ZEEBRUGGE 
AFFAIR 


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THE  ZEEBRUGGE  AFFAIR 


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THE 

ZEE  BRUGGE  AFFAIR 


BY 

KEBLE  HOWARD 

(J.  KEBLE  BELL.  2ND  LIEUT.  R.A.F.) 


WITH  THE 
BRITISH  OFFICIAL  NARRATIVES  OF  THE 
OPERATIONS  AT  ZEEBRUGGE  AND  OSTEND 

Exclusive  and  Official  Photographs 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


.    "...     '"S    % 


\> 


2^   ?A 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALTFORNIA 
SANTA   BARBARA 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

I.  What  Zeebrugge  and  Ostend  Mean 

II.  Captain  Carpenter  in  his  Attic 

III.  How  the  Plans  were  Laid  . 

IV.  The  Great  Fight 

V.  A  Museum  in  a  Trunk     . 

VI.  On  Board  H.M.S.  Vindictive  .      . 

VII.  The  Man  who  Felt  Frightened 

VIII.  What  the  Marines  told  the  Huns 

IX.  I  Hear  They  Want  More     .     .     . 


PAGE 

7 
ii 

14 

19 
26 

30 

33 

37 
40 


BRITISH  ADMIRALTY  OFFICIAL  NARRATIVES: 

Zeebrugge  and  Ostend — First  Attack  .       43 
Ostend — Second  Attack 55 


CHAPTER  I 


What  Zeebrugge  and  Ostend  Mean 


LET  me,  first  of  all,  try  to  tell  you  the  story  of 
Zeebrugge  as  I  extracted  it,  not  without  diffi- 
culty, from  several  of  the  leading  spirits  of  that  enter- 
prise. This  is  no  technical  story.  Elsewhere  in  this 
little  volume  you  will  find  the  official  narrative  issued 
by  the  Admiralty  to  the  Press,  and  that  contains,  as 
all  good  official  documents  do,  names,  ranks,  dates, 
times,  and  movements. 

I  lay  claim  to  no  such  precision.  It  is  my  proud 
yet  humble  task  to  bring  you  face  to  face,  if  I  can, 
with  the  men  who  went  out  to  greet  what  they  re- 
garded as  certain  death — bear  that  in  mind — in  order 
to  stop,  in  some  measure,  the  German  submarine  men- 
ace, and  to  prove  yet  once  again  to  all  the  world  that 

7 


8  The  Zeebruo-o-e  Affair 


©&* 


the  British  Navy  is  the  same  in  spirit  as  it  was  in  the 
days  of  Nelson  and  far  down  the  ages. 

These  men  went  out  on  the  eve  of  St.  George's  Day, 
1918,  to  do  those  two  things — the  one  utilitarian,  the 
other  romantic.  They  went  out  to  block  the  Bruges 
Canal  at  Zeebrugge — to  stop  that  mouth  which  for 
so  long  past  has  been  vomiting  forth  its  submarines 
and  its  destroyers  against  our  hospital  ships,  and  our 
merchant  vessels,  and  the  merchant  vessels  of  coun- 
tries not  engaged  in  this  war.  They  blocked  it  so 
neatly,  so  effectively  that  it  will  be  utterly  useless  as 
a  submarine  base  for — I  long  to  tell  you  the  opinion 
of  the  experts,  but  I  may  not — many  months  to  come. 

This  shall  be  proved  for  you  as  we  proceed.  Now 
let  me  explain,  very  briefly,  the  nature  of  the  task 
which  the  Navy  set  itself.  You  imagine  Zeebrugge, 
perhaps,  as  a  long  and  dreary  breakwater,  flanked 
by  flat  and  sparsely  populated  country,  with  a  few 
German  coastguards  dotted  about,  and  a  destroyer  or 
two  in  the  offing.  I  am  certain  that  that  is  the  mental 
picture  most  of  us  had  of  Zeebrugge — if  we  had  one 
at  all. 

Now  think  of  Dover  or  Portsmouth  as  you  knew 
them  in  times  of  peace.  Conceive  a  garrison  of  no 
less  than  one  thousand  men  ever  on  the  breakwater. 
Glance  at  the  plan  of  Zeebrugge  reproduced  in  this 
book,  and  figure  to  yourself,  at  every  possible  coign 
of  vantage,  guns  of  mighty  calibre,  destroyers  lurk- 
ing beneath  the  Mole  on  the  harbour  side,  search- 
lights at  all  points,  and  great  land  guns  in  the  distance 
ready  to  pulverise  any  hostile  craft  that  dares  to  show 
its  nose  within  miles. 

Picture  all  that  as  vividly  as  you  can,  and  then  ask 


Admiral    Sir   Roger  Keyes 

In  Command   of  the  Operations. 


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Captain    Carpenter   of   the   "Vindictive* 
With  one  of  the  Ship's  Mascots. 


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Ensign  Flown  by  the  "Vindictive" 
During  the  Engagement  at  Zecbrugge. 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  9 

yourself  the  question :  "Would  it  be  possible  to  storm 
Zeebrugge  so  successfully  that  block-ships  could  be 
sunk  in  the  very  mouth  of  the  Canal  and  seal  it  up?" 
How  would  you  have  set  about  it  ?  With  a  huge  force 
of  cruisers?  No,  for  the  enemy  must  be  taken  by 
surprise.  The  action  must  be  swift,  cunning,  and 
sure.  The  enemy  must  not  be  warned,  or  your  one 
object,  the  blocking  of  the  Canal,  will  be  lost. 

It  took  Lord  Jellicoe  and  Sir  Rosslyn  Wemyss  and 
Sir  Roger  Keyes  six  long  and  anxious  months  to  per- 
fect their  plan,  with  the  chance  that  the  secret,  at  any 
moment,  might  slip  out.  But  it  was  perfect  at  last, 
and  the  secret  had  not  slipped  out.  Next  they  wanted 
a  number  of  men — picked  men  with  special  qualities 
— who  would  be  ready  and  eager  to  die  if  only  this 
amazing  coup  might  be  achieved.  Last  of  all  they 
wanted  a  night  on  which  all  the  conditions — the  wind, 
the  weather,  the  light — should  be  in  their  favour. 
They  did  not  get  that,  but  they  went  in,  none  the  less, 
and  did  the  job. 

We  have  spoken  of  Dover  and  Portsmouth.  What 
would  you  say  if  you  heard,  some  fine  morning,  that 
an  almost  obsolete  German  cruiser  had  come  and  leant 
up  against  the  wall  of  Dover  Harbour,  that  two  Ger- 
man officers  had  calmly  sat  astride  the  wall  in  the 
course  of  their  business,  that  some  German  sailors  had 
landed  on  the  wall  and  chased  our  gunners  away 
from  their  guns,  and  that,  in  the  meantime,  three 
quite  obsolete  German  ships,  filled  with  concrete,  had 
been  sunk  in  the  mouth  of  the  harbour  and  blocked  it? 
What  in  the  world  would  you  say  ? 

I  think  you  would  at  first  refuse  to  believe  it.  Then, 
when  some  official  communication  lent  colour  to  the 


10  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

story,  you  would  tear  your  hair,  declare  that  all  was 
lost,  and  utter  extremely  unpleasant  things  about  the 
British  Forces  and  those  in  charge  of  them. 

Yet  this  is  precisely  what  happened  at  Zeebrugge. 
There  is  nothing  more  gallant  in  the  annals  of  the 
British  Navy.  Not  one  man  expected  to  come  back. 
There  is  nothing  more  successful  in  the  annals  of  the 
British  Navy.  They  did  to  the  full  just  what  they 
hoped  and  had  planned  to  doL 


CHAPTER  II 


I 


Captain  Carpenter  in  His  Attic 

CANNOT  say  that  I  enjoyed  my  journey  to 
X .  Though  representing  an  important  Gov- 
ernment Department,  and  duly  accredited  by  his 
Majesty's  Admiralty  Office,  I  had  misgivings.    Should  i 

I  find  any  of  my  heroes  at  X ?    They  were  prob-  ■ 

ably  scattered,  on  leave,  to  the  four  corners  of  the 
kingdom.  Or,  having  found  a  few,  would  they  be 
persuaded  to  tell  their  story  ?  Heroes,  I  remembered, 
are  proverbially  reticent,  and  it  was  quite  possible  they 
would  smilingly  refer  me  to  the  official  account,  offer 
me  a  cigarette,  and  inquire  earnestly  after  the  new 
piece  at  the  Marathonium. 

X was  no  longer  a  pleasure  resort  with  a  naval 

and  military  flavouring.    It  was  a  place  of  stern  busi- 

ti 


12  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

ness.  Gay  dresses?  There  was  hardly  a  feminine 
thing,  if  you  except  the  sinister  destroyers  and  twenty 
other  varieties  of  war  craft,  to  be  seen.  Men  went 
their  way  quickly  and  full  of  purpose.  That  purpose 
may  have  been  dinner,  but  even  meals  are  short  and 
businesslike  at  X . 

The  hotel — almost  the  only  one  extant — was  nicely 
filled  with  heroes  in  embryo.  The  American  accent 
fell  pleasantly  on  the  ear. 

Presently  my  luck  began.  Passing  through  the  hall 
after  dinner,  I  reaped  the  reward  of  labour  in  the 
early  days  of  the  war.  In  those  days  I  filled  a  humble 
position  at  the  Admiralty,  and  here,  advancing  to- 
wards me,  was  an  officer  under  whom  I  had,  quite 
inefficiently,  served. 

To  him  swiftly  I  imparted  the  purpose  of  my  mis- 
sion, and  by  him,  in  the  kindest  way,  I  was  conveyed 
back  to  the  Admiral's  office.  Things  began  to  move. 
Gentlemen  in  blue  and  gold  began  to  take  a  human  as 
well  as  an  official  interest. 

We  had  come  to  a  halt  outside  a  room  on  the  first 
floor.  There  were  two  officers  in  the  room,  the  door 
of  which  stood  open.  One  was  a  boy.  The  other, 
whose  face  seemed  vaguely  familiar,  wore  the  four 
broad  gold  bands  that  denote  a  captain  in  the  Royal 
Navy.  I  studied  him  more  closely,  and  noted  a  spare 
figure  of  medium  height,  a  pale  face,  clear-cut  fea- 
tures, and  blue  eyes  that  lit  up  the  whole  countenance 
with  radiant  intelligence.  But  there  was  something 
tired,  too,  about  that  face — a  look  that  told  of  mental 
and  physical  strain,  of  days  of  great  anxiety,  of  sleep- 
less nights,  and  of  an  ordeal  recently  passed.  Here, 
for  a  certainty,  was  one  of  my  "objectives." 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  13 

"Who's  that?"  I  whispered  to  my  guide. 

"Captain  Carpenter,"  was  the  answer. 

"The  man  who  commanded  the  Vindictive?" 

"Yes.    Would  you  like  to  meet  him?" 

"Very  much." 

A  second — and  a  prodigious — stroke  of  luck.  Cap- 
tain Carpenter,  one  of  the  outstanding  figures  of  the 
whole  affair,  was  actually  in  X . 

Even  as  we  conferred  in  whispers,  however,  he 
seemed  to  scent  danger.  With  a  word  to  the  young 
officer,  he  came  out  of  the  room,  ran  up  the  next  flight 
of  stairs,  and  was  gone.  We  entered  the  room.  I 
repeated  my  little  piece  to  the  young  officer. 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  he.  "Well,  now,  I  wonder  which 
people  we  can  find  for  you?  Nearly  everybody,  you 
see,  is  on  leave." 

"Except  Captain  Carpenter,"  I  suggested. 

The  young  officer  disappeared  and  reappeared.  He 
looked  intensely  relieved. 

"Will  you  come  up  to  Captain  Carpenter's  room?" 

I  floated  up,  and  up,  and  up.  The  house  was  an 
old-fashioned  one — just  such  a  house  as  you  will  find 
on  the  front  of  any  old-fashioned  seaport  town.  We 
reached  the  attic — originally  designed,  no  doubt,  for  a 
maid's  bedroom.  But  that  humble  apartment  is 
destined  to  become  historic,  for  here  many  of  the  plans 
were  drawn  up  that  resulted  in  the  splendid  success  of 
Zeebrugge  and,  later,  of  Ostend. 

"Come  in,"  said  Captain  Carpenter. 


CHAPTER  III 


How  the  Plans  Were  Laid 


HAVE  a  cigarette.     Now,  what  can  I  do  for 
you?" 

I  repeated  my  little  piece. 

"Well,  I  don't  know  that  I  can  add  much  to  the 
official  account." 

Two  of  my  apprehensions  had  proved  correct.  But, 
before  he  could  inquire  earnestly  after  the  new  piece 
at  the  Marathonium,  I  pointed  to  a  queer  object  on  the 
floor.  It  was  about  four  feet  long  and  three  feet 
wide.  It  was  made  of  some  malleable  substance,  and 
tinted  a  dull  red.  It  was  long,  and  sinuous,  and  deco- 
rated with  tiny  turrets.  The  base  of  the  whole  affair 
was  painted  a  bluish  colour.  The  extreme  edges  on 
the  far  side  sagged  off  into  a  dirty  brown. 

"What's  that?"  I  asked  abruptly. 

14 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  15 

"That?    Oh,  that's  the  Mole,  you  know." 

"Is  this  the  model  from  which  they  worked  out  the 
plans?" 

"Yes.    Does  it  interest  you?" 

"Enormously,"  I  said.  And  so  it  did,  but  the  main 
point  was  that  it  still  interested  him.  It  was  bad  for 
him,  no  doubt,  to  have  Zeebrugge  on  the  brain  after 
all  the  terrible  experiences  he  had  endured,  but  it  was 
my  duty  to  my  Department — possibly  to  a  larger  audi- 
ence— -to  take  advantage,  if  I  could,  of  this  very 
natural  obsession. 

"Then  let's  sit  down  and  have  a  look  at  it." 

We  drew  our  chairs  close  to  the  model,  and  he  began 
to  tell  me  about  it.  It  was  the  sailor  talking,  the  keen 
navigator,  the  born  fighter. 

"Here,"  said  Captain  Carpenter,  digging  with  his 
cane  at  the  model,  "is  the  Mole,  which  is  eighty  yards 
wide  and  about  a  mile  long.  It's  divided  up  into  por- 
tions, and  you  must  understand  that  we  knew  all  about 
it  in  peace  times. 

"This  thin  piece  at  the  end  we  call  the  Lighthouse 
Pier.  There  are  powerful  searchlights,  of  course,  at 
the  end  of  that  pier.  Next  we  come  to  the  end  of  the 
Mole  proper,  where  we  knew  they  had  at  least  three 
very  big  guns.  Coming  along  towards  the  land  we 
have  two  sheds,  one  containing  naval  stores.  So  the 
Mole  goes  on  in  a  curve  until  we  get  to  the  Viaduct. 
That's  the  thing  we  blew  up  with  the  submarine.  It 
connects  the  Mole  with  the  shore  end,  and  took  an 
immense  time  to  build  on  account  of  the  strong  cur- 
rent." 

"Why,"  I  asked,  "did  they  have  a  viaduct?  Why 
not  have  built  the  Mole  solid  all  the  way  along?" 


16  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

"Because  of  the  silt  in  the  harbour.  They  found 
that  unless  they  allowed  for  the  flow  of  the  tide — I'm 
talking,  of  course,  of  when  Zeebrugge  was  built,  long 
before  the  war — they  could  not  prevent  the  harbour 
from  silting  up,  which,  however  they  might  dredge, 
would  soon  have  blocked  the  entrance  to  the  Canal. 
So  they  made  that  viaduct.  It  took,  as  I  say,  an  un- 
conscionable time  to  construct,  even  under  peace  con- 
ditions. There  were  railway  lines  across  it,  and  so 
on.  Now  it's  in  ruins,  and  they'll  have  the  pleasant 
job  of  reconstructing  it,  if  they  can,  under  showers  of 
bombs  from  our  aeroplanes. 

"Well,  now,  here  is  the  entrance  to  the  Bruges 
Canal.  That,  also,  was  tremendously  strongly  forti- 
fied with  big  guns  and  searchlights.  There  were  also 
guns  along  the  banks  of  the  Canal,  and  very  power- 
ful guns  protecting  the  whole  harbour  from  the  shore. 
Then  you  must  take  into  account  the  destroyers  lying 
in  the  harbour.  There  were  also  some  of  those.  We 
sank  one.  Just  lobbed  things  over  the  Mole  and  sank 
it.    No  doubt  whatever  about  that. 

"Our  job,  however,  was  to  block  that  Canal." 

"Just  a  moment.  Would  you  say  that  Zeebrugge 
was  as  strongly  fortified  as  X ?" 

"It  was  as  strongly  fortified,"  he  replied,  "as  the 
Germans  could  fortify  it,  and  they  know  something 
about  fortification.  The  strength  of  the  garrison  was 
never  less  than  a  thousand  men." 

"How  long  did  it  take  to  make  the  plans?" 

"We  began  last  November,  and  we  were  at  it  all  the 
time  until  the  thing  came  off.  I  was  at  the  Admiralty 
when  the  work  started,  after  three  and  a  half  years 
with  the  Fleet." 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  17 

"Then  you  practically  came  from  a  desk  at  the  Ad- 
miralty to  take  command  of  the  Vindictive?" 

"Yes,  thanks  to  Sir  Roger  Keyes,  one  of  the  finest 
and  most  gallant  men  that  ever  breathed.  Not  a  man 
under  him  that  wouldn't  cut  off  his  right  hand  for  him. 
He'd  have  been  in  this  up  to  the  neck  if  he'd  been 
allowed  to  take  the  risk.  But  that  wouldn't  have  done, 
of  course.  He  had  to  be  in  charge  of  the  whole  opera- 
tion. So  he  very  kindly  told  me  I  might  command  the 
Vindictive."  His  eyes  shone  with  gratitude  for  the 
chance. 

"There  must  have  been  a  terrific  lot  of  preliminary 
work!" 

Captain  Carpenter  opened  a  drawer  and  pulled  out 
a  huge  bundle  of  typewritten  matter.  "Those  are 
the  instructions,"  he  said.  "Some  of  them  were  drawn 
up  in  this  room.  This  is  where  Captain  Halahan  and 
I  used  to  work." 

I  remembered  that  Captain  Halahan  was  one  of  the 
first  killed  after  the  Vindictive  came  alongside  the 
Mole,  and  I  looked  at  the  plain  wooden  desk  in  the 
little  attic  where  he  had  sat  so  many  nights  and 
worked  so  eagerly  at  the  great  scheme. 

"Yes,"  said  Captain  Carpenter  thoughtfully,  but 
without  a  trace  of  sentimentality — he  was  tenderly 
smiling,  indeed,  as  he  thought  of  his  friend — "he  went 
early,  and  so  did  a  good  many  other  fine  chaps,  but 
I  don't  think  they'd  mind  that.  None  of  us  expected 
to  come  back." 

"How  did  you  select  the  men?" 

"Oh,  they  were  all  picked  men — picked  from  volun- 
teers. We  tried  them  out  under  intensive  training 
until  we  got  exactly  the  men  we  wanted.    That,  natu- 


18  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

rally,  was  a  long  and  anxious  job.  At  first  they  thought 
it  was  for  a  hazardous  operation  in  France,  and  they 
were  keen  enough  then ;  but  later,  when  we  entrusted 
them  with  the  real  secret,  and  they  knew  we  were  after 
Zeebrugge  and  Ostend,  there  was  no  holding  them! 
Keenness  is  not  the  word  for  it !  They  were  amazing ! 
And  didn't  they  behave  splendidly!  Every  man! 
Every  single  man !  By  Jove,  one  can't  say  too  much 
about  the  way  those  fellows  did  their  jobs!" 

"I  read  in  the  official  account  that  there  were  two 
previous  attempts." 

"Yes.  We  actually  started  twice — the  whole  lot  of 
us — the  old  Vindictive,  the  Daffodil,  the  Iris,  the 
block-ships,  the  smoke-boats,  the  motor-launches,  the 
monitors,  and  the  destroyers.  Once  we  got  within 
fifteen  miles  of  Zeebrugge  and  then  had  to  turn  back." 

"Rather  a  blow!" 

"Oh,  rotten,  of  course.  We  were  all  strung  up  to 
it,  but  the  conditions  weren't  what  we  wanted,  and  the 
Admiral  wouldn't  risk  failure.  It  really  wanted  more 
pluck  on  his  part  to  turn  back  than  to  go  on.  It  was 
so  easy  for  anyone  to  say  he'd  funked  it.  Not  that 
he'd  care  twopence  for  that !" 

"But  the  night  came  at  last !" 

"Yes,  it  came  at  last.  Even  then  the  conditions 
weren't  perfect.  It  was  touch  and  go  whether  we 
started.  We  wanted  low  visibility,  you  see,  but  it 
was  a  very  clear  day.  Still,  if  we  waited  for  abso- 
lutely perfect  conditions,  we  should  never  go  at  all. 
All  right,'  said  the  Admiral;  'off  you  go.'    And  oft 


we  went." 


CHAPTER  IV 
The  Great  Fight 

SOME  people,"  said  Captain  Carpenter,  "have 
called  this  affair  audacious.  That  isn't  the  word 
I  should  use  for  it." 

"What  word  would  you  use?" 

"Impertinent,"  he  replied,  laughingly.  "Just  imag- 
ine this  Armada  of  smoke-boats,  motor  launches, 
ferry-boats,  obsolete  submarines,  and  ancient  cruisers 
laden  with  concrete,  headed  by  the  old  Vindictive, 
setting  out  in  broad  daylight  to  attack  the  mighty 
fortress  of  Zeebrugge." 

"In  broad  daylight !"  I  exclaimed. 

"Certainly.  We  timed  ourselves  to  reach  the  Mole 
by  midnight,  so,  owing  to  our  slow  speed,  we  had  to  do 
three  hours  of  the  oversea  passage  in  daylight." 

"How  were  the  men?    Excited?" 

"Oh,  no;  quite  calm,  and  immensely  relieved  to 

19 


20  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

be  at  it  at  last.  Well,  so  soon  as  it  got  dark,  it  was 
dark!  We  could  hardly  see  a  thing,  and  when  the 
smoke-boats  got  to  work,  pouring  out  great  waves  of 
dense  smoke  at  regular  intervals,  which  the  light 
north-east  wind  carried  right  across  the  Mole  and  the 
harbour,  pitch  doesn't  describe  it!" 

'What  about  the  mine-field?" 

"H'm!  Anyway,  we  dodged  it.  My  job,  you  un- 
derstand, was  to  get  alongside  the  Mole,  land  my 
Marines,  help  Iris  and  Daffodil  to  do  the  same,  stay 
there  drawing  the  fire  of  the  batteries  and  diverting- 
attention  while  the  block-ships  got  into  the  Canal  and 
sunk  themselves,  then  get  the  Marines  back  on  board, 
shove  off,  and  clear  out  as  quickly  as  possible.  Inci- 
dentally, of  course,  we  meant  to  put  out  of  action  as 
many  Huns  as  was  convenient  by  fire  from  our  guns. 
You've  seen  the  picture  of  the  fighting-top  ?  That  was 
filled  with  Marines  armed  with  Lewis  guns.  They  did 
capital  work.    I'll  come  to  that  later. 

"We  got  pretty  near  the  Mole  before  they  saw  us, 
and  then  the  fun  began!  Up  went  the  star-shells, 
the  guns  began  blazing,  and  we  went  pell-mell  for  the 
old  Mole  like  that."  A  savage  dig  at  the  model  with 
his  cane.  "I  had  intended  to  fetch  up  just  here" — 
he  indicated  a  spot  on  the  exterior  of  the  great  wall 
pretty  near  the  head  of  it — "but  actually  came  in 
here" — a  little  further  inland. 

"We'd  had  things  called  'brows'  constructed — a  sort 
of  light  drawbridge  with  a  hinge  in  the  middle.  These 
were  lowered  away,  but  the  current  was  so  strong 
against  the  Mole,  and  the  Vindictive  bounced  up  and 
down  so  nimbly,  that  the  men  had  the  devil  of  a  job 
to  drop  the  ends  of  these  brows  on  the  wall. 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  21 

"All  this  time,  naturally  enough,  the  Huns  were 
blazing  at  us  with  everything  they'd  got.  If  you  have 
a  look  at  the  Vindictive  in  the  morning,  you'll  soon 
see  what  they  were  doing  to  us.  We  were  just  swept 
with  fire  from  two  sides.  Even  before  the  party  could 
begin  to  land,  Colonel  Elliot  and  Captain  Halahan, 
poor  chaps,  who  were  in  charge  of  that  part  of  the 
business,  were  killed. 

"The  Iris  went  ahead  of  me  and  came  alongside 
the  Mole  just  here" — a  little  nearer  the  shore  end. 
"They  tried  to  hang  on  with  their  grapnels,  but 
couldn't  quite  manage  it,  so  Lieut.-Commander  Brad- 
ford and  Lieut.  Hawkins  scrambled  ashore  and  sat 
on  the  parapet,  trying  to  fix  the  grapnels.  They  were 
both  killed.  .  .  . 

"In  the  meantime,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  secur- 
ing to  the  Mole  when  alongside,  I  ordered  the  Daffodil 
to  continue  pushing,  according  to  plan,  so  as  to  keep  us 
in  position.  This  was  a  pity,  because  she  was  full  of 
men,  and  they  couldn't  land  to  help  with  the  fighting. 
Eventually,  some  of  them  scrambled  across  the  Vin- 
dictive and  landed  that  way. 

"The  wind  had  changed  about  fifteen  minutes  be- 
fore we  came  alongside  the  Mole;  all  the  smoke  had 
cleared  ofif  and  the  harbour  was  plain  to  the  eye.  That 
helped  the  Huns  to  pot  at  us,  and  they  took  fine 
advantage  of  it.  The  din,  as  you  can  guess,  was  ter- 
rific, and  I  think  they  got  the  old  Vindictive  in  every 
visible  spot. 

"Suddenly  the  thing  happened  for  which  we  had 
been,  semi-consciously,  waiting.  There  was  a  tremen- 
dous roar,  and  up  went  a  huge  tower  of  flame  and 
debris  and  bodies  into  the  black  sky!     My  fellows 


22  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

cheered  like  mad,  for  they  knew  what  it  meant.  Sand- 
ford  had  got  home  beneath  the  viaduct  with  his  an- 
cient submarine  and  touched  her  off.  I  never  saw 
such  a  column  of  flame !    It  seemed  a  mile  high ! 

"I  must  tell  you  a  curious  feature  of  this  affair. 
As  he  approached  the  Mole  they  got  the  searchlights 
on  to  him  and  began  firing  at  him.  That  was  a  nasty 
position,  because  she  was  stuffed  full  of  explosives, 
and  also  had  a  big  quantity  of  petrol  on  board.  But 
when  they  saw  him  still  coming  on,  and  dashing 
straight  at  the  Mole,  they  stopped  firing  and  simply 
gaped.     I  suppose  they  thought  he  was  mad. 

"Anyway,  they  paid  for  their  curiosity.  On  the 
viaduct  itself  there  were  a  whole  lot  of  Huns — masses 
of  them.  There  they  stood,  staring  at  Sandford  in 
his  submarine.  The  searchlights  lit  them  up.  Then, 
presently,  came  the  explosion,  and  bang  went  the 
whole  lot  to  glory!  They  must  have  been  the  most 
surprised  Huns  since  the  war  started. 

"All  this  time,  of  course,  a  lot  of  other  things  were 
happening.  Many  of  the  seamen  and  Marines  had 
landed  on  the  Mole  and  were  making  fine  play  with 
the  astonished  Germans.  Some  went  right  to  the  head 
of  the  Mole  and  found  the  guns  deserted.  One  gun, 
I  must  tell  you,  had  not  even  been  uncovered,  which 
is  clear  proof  that  the  garrison  was  taken  by  surprise. 
Others  were  chasing  the  enemy  all  down  the  Mole 
towards  the  viaduct,  which  they  were  never  to  cross, 
and  some  went  into  the  shed  I  told  you  about  and 
dealt  with  such  people  as  they  found. 

'The  men  in  the  fighting-top  were  also  doing  fell 
work.  All  along  the  Mole,  you  see,  and  close  under 
the  fifteen-foot  parapet,  there  are  dug-outs  or  funk- 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  23 

holes.  At  first  the  Huns  popped  into  these,  but  by- 
and-by  it  occurred  to  them  that  they  would  certainly 
be  found  and  spitted  if  they  stayed  there,  so  the  bright 
idea  occurred  to  them  of  nipping  across  the  Mole 
and  dropping  down  the  side  into  their  own  destroyers 
lying  there.  An  excellent  scheme  but  for  our  fellows 
in  the  fighting-top,  who  picked  them  off  with  their 
Lewis  guns  as  they  ran. 

"Those  chaps  in  the  fighting-top  had  to  pay  for  it, 
though,  in  the  end.  They  were  attracting  a  lot  of 
attention,  and  the  Huns  were  constantly  trying  to 
drop  a  shell  amongst  them.  They  succeeded  at  last, 
I'm  sorry  to  say,  and  laid  out  every  man  jack  but  one 
— Sergeant  Finch.  He  was  wounded  badly,  but 
dragged  himself  out  from  under  the  bodies  of  his 
pals  and  went  on  working  his  little  gun  until  he 
couldn't  work  it  any  longer. 

"Now  we  come  to  the  block-ships.  We  saw  Thetis 
come  steaming  into  the  harbour  in  grand  style.  She 
made  straight  for  the  opening  to  the  Canal,  and  you 
can  imagine  that  she  was  a  blaze  of  light  and  a  target 
for  every  big  thing  they  could  bring  to  bear.  She 
was  going  toppingly,  all  the  same,  when  she  had  the 
rotten  luck  to  catch  her  propeller  in  the  defence-nets. 
Even  then,  however,  she  did  fine  work.  She  signalled 
instructions  to  the  Intrepid  and  Iphigenia,  and  so  they 
managed  to  avoid  the  nets.  It  was  a  gorgeous  piece 
of  co-operation ! 

"And,  by  the  way,  I'm  not  at  all  sure  that  Thetis 
won't  give  even  more  trouble  to  the  enemy  than  the 
other  two.  I  told  you  something,  I  think,  about  the 
tendency  of  the  harbour  to  silt  up.  Well,  Thetis  is 
lying  plump  in  the  channel  that  must  always  be  kept 


24  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

clear  of  silt.  The  consequence  is  that  the  silt  will 
collect  all  round  her  and  over  her,  and  I  doubt  whether 
she  will  ever  be  removable. 

"To  get  back  to  the  other  block-ships.  In  went 
Intrepid,  and  in  after  her  went  Iphigenia.  They 
weren't  content,  you  know,  to  sink  themselves  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Canal.  That  was  not  the  idea  at  all. 
They  had  to  go  right  in,  with  guns  firing  point-blank 
at  them  from  both  banks,  sink  their  ships,  and  get 
back  as  best  they  could.  And  they  did  it.  They 
blocked  that  Canal  as  neatly  and  effectively  as  we 
could  have  wished  in  our  most  optimistic  moments, 
and  then,  thanks  to  the  little  motor-launches,  which 
were  handled  with  the  finest  skill  and  pluck,  the  com- 
manders and  men  got  back  to  safety.  To-morrow  I'll 
show  you  some  aeroplane  photographs  which  are  due 
in  from  France,  and  you'll  see  for  yourself  how  beau- 
tifully Intrepid  and  Iphigenia  are  lying." 

"And  how  long  will  it  take  to  clear  them  away?" 

"We've  had  the  opinion  of  the  most  expert  salvage- 
men  from  Liverpool,  and  they  say months.  Per- 
sonally, I'm  prepared  to  swear  that  it  won't  be  less 
than months." 

"What  may  I  say?" 

"Say  'some'  months." 

"Can't  they  blow  them  up?" 

"Not  a  bit  of  it.  How  can  you  blow  up  a  thing 
that's  already  blown  up  ?" 

"I  don't  know.    Let's  get  back  to  the  fight." 

"Right.  As  soon  as  we  saw  that  the  block-ships 
were  sunk  we  knew  that  our  job  was  done.  Now  came 
the  most  ticklish  part  of  the  business — to  get  away. 
Up  to  this  point  we  had  been  protected,  so  far  as  our 


Official  Sea-Plane  Photografh  of  the  Viaduct 

Destroyed   by   Lieut. -Commander  Sandford,  showing  the  Serious  Gap 
and  the  Temporary  Planking. 


LlEUT.-COMMANDER    SANDFORD 

The  Hero   of  the  Submarine  Exploit,  recovering  from   his  Injuries, 


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The  Zeebrugge  Affair  25 

hull  was  concerned,  by  the  Mole.  We  knew  that, 
directly  we  left  the  Mole,  we  should  be  in  for  it. 

"The  signal  arranged  for  the  men  to  re-embark  was 
a  long  blast  from  Vindictive 's  siren.  But  that  had 
gone  with  a  lot  of  other  tackle,  so  we  did  the  best  we 
could  with  Daffodil's  little  hooter.  (Ferry  passengers 
across  the  Mersey  must  know  it  well.)  It  wasn't 
much  of  a  hoot,  but  the  fellows  heard  it,  and  made 
for  the  scaling-ladders. 

"This  was  the  Hun's  chance.  The  fire  turned  on 
those  chaps  as  they  chambered  up  the  ladders,  most 
of  them  trying  to  carry  a  dead  or  wounded  pal,  was 
awful.  Talk  about  heroism !  Every  man  was  a  hero ! 
You  must  ask  some  of  them  who  actually  landed  to 
tell  you  about  that.     Wonderful! 

"We  got  them  aboard  at  last,  and  stayed  to  make 
certain  that  nobody  was  left  behind.  Then  we  shoved 
off  from  the  Mole,  which  had  had  enough  of  us  for 
one  night,  and  made  for  home  at  our  best  speed.  In- 
stantly the  big  shore-guns  and  everything  else  vicious 
blazed  away,  but  the  very  wind  which  had  turned 
against  us  when  we  arrived  now  stood  our  friend. 
We  worked  all  our  smoke-boxes  like  mad,  and  the 
smoke  saved  us.  They  landed  some  shells  home,  of 
course,  and  a  lot  of  poor  fellows  in  the  Iris  were  killed 
by  one  shell  just  as  they  were  leaving  the  Mole.  But 
most  of  the  stuff  aimed  at  the  Vindictive  fell  short, 
thank  God,  and  we  finally  ran  out  of  range. 

"It  was  a  good  fight.  I  think  the  Huns  had  the 
wind  up  that  night.  .  .  . 

"Where  are  you  staying?  .  .  .  Good.  So  am  I. 
We'll  walk  along  together." 


[From  a  special  photograph. 

The  Steering-wheel  of  H.M.S.  Vindictive. 

CHAPTER  V 
A  Museum  in  a  Trunk 


pHE  clocks  of  X were  pointing  to  midnight 

when  we  came  down  from  Captain  Carpenter's 
little  office  under  the  roof.  The  night  was  dark,  but 
out  to  sea  there  were  strange  lights  which  boded  ill, 
one  felt,  to  hostile  and  inquisitive  strangers. 

We  had  been  talking  for  about  an  hour — or,  rather, 
Captain  Carpenter  had  been  patiently  explaining  the 
details  of  the  attack,  adapting  his  terms  to  the  intelli- 
gence of  a  mere  landsman.    Anyway,  I  know  that  my 

25 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  27 

head  ached  with  the  concentrated  excitement  of  it  all, 
and  we  both  grasped  eagerly  at  the  two  last  bottles  of 
ginger  ale  from  the  night  porter's  store. 

"Incidentally,"  I  remarked,  "you  have  told  me  noth- 
ing at  all  of  your  own  experiences  and  sensations." 

"Oh,"  he  laughed,  "they  were  so  confused  that  I 
couldn't  possibly  analyse  them.  I  know  there  was  the 
very  devil  of  a  row,  and  vast  quantities  of  smoke,  and 
all  that  sort  of  thing." 

"I  don't  quite  understand  how  it  was  that  you, 
personally,  were  not  killed." 

"Neither  do  I.  It's  a  trite  phrase,  I  know,  but  I 
must  have  had  a  charmed  life.  Fellows  on  each  side 
of  me  were  cut  to  bits  with  bursting  shells.  Yet  I  got 
nothing  worse  than  a  flesh  wound  in  the  shoulder 
from  a  fragment  of  shell." 

"By  the  way,"  I  observed,  "I  read  somewhere  that 
you  actually  brought  away  a  huge  piece  of  the  Mole 
on  the  deck  of  the  Vindictive?" 

"Quite  right.    Like  to  see  a  bit  of  it?" 

"To-morrow?" 

"To-night,  if  you  like.    I've  got  some  up  in  my  bed- 


room." 


Thus  it  happened  that  we  went  up  in  the  lift  to 
have  a  look  at  the  Mole.  There  was  a  trunk  at  the 
foot  of  the  Captain's  bed.  Unlocking  this,  he  pro- 
duced a  large  lump  of  crumbly  substance  and  placed 
it  in  my  hands.  I  had  heard  of  people  chipping  frag- 
ments off  Shakespeare's  house  and  Canterbury  Cathe- 
dral, but  this  went  one  better. 

"Yes.  I  think  you  were  right  in  using  the  word 
'impertinence.'  " 

He  wrapped  the  fragment  in  cotton-wool,  explain- 


28  The  Zeebruffffe  Affair 


£>&' 


ing  that  it  crumbled  so  very  easily  and  was  intended 
as  a  gift.  The  huge  block  that  fell  on  the  deck  of  the 
Vindictive  was  to  be  divided  up.  Sir  Roger  Keyes,  of 
course,  would  claim  a  share,  and  the  Lords  of  the 
Admiralty,  but  the  main  bulk  he  had  decided  to  pre- 
sent to  the  War  Museum  in  London,  for  memorial 
purposes. 

I  was  still  peering  into  the  trunk.  A  miscellaneous 
jumble  met  the  eye — a  cap,  a  flag,  a  leather  case  for 
binoculars,  two  pairs  of  goggles,  a  broken  watch  (or 
was  it  a  chronometer?),  and  a  roll  of  tattered  charts. 

"Don't  shut  it  for  a  moment,"  I  begged.  "Are 
these  more  souvenirs  ?" 

"Well,  just  one  or  two  little  things  of  personal 
interest.    Care  to  see  'em  ?" 

"If  you  don't  mind  showing  them." 

'That's  the  cap  I  was  wearing  at  the  time.  It's 
rather  a  shabby  old  thing,  but  I  thought  it  hardly 
worth  while  to  put  on  a  good  cap  for  a  job  of  that  sort. 
Good  thing  I  didn't." 

It  had  been  perforated  from  back  to  front  and 
from  side  to  side  with  bullets.  In  each  case  the  bullet 
quite  obviously  missed  the  scalp  by  the  fraction  of  an 
inch. 

"Just  as  well,"  I  agreed.  "Pity  to  waste  a  really 
good  cap  on  a  place  like  Zeebrugge.  You  were  evi- 
dently there.   What  happened  to  the  binocular  case?" 

"Well,  that's  rather  interesting.  I  had  my  glasses 
in  my  hand  most  of  the  time,  so  far  as  I  remember, 
and  the  leather  case,  of  course,  was  slung  at  my 
back.  A  bullet  went  right  through  it,  and  yet  I  knew 
nothing  at  all  about  it.    Wasn't  that  rum  ?" 


The  Zeebruinje  Affair  29 


*&i-> 


"The  gods  apparently  want  you  on  earth  a  little 
longer.    The  barometer  went  as  well,  I  observe." 

"It  did.  All  in  bits.  I  don't  know  how  or  when. 
Oh,  here  are  the  old  charts."  He  unrolled  three  large 
charts  that  looked  as  if  rats  had  been  feeding  on 
them  for  six  months.  From  each  chart  huge  pieces 
had  entirely  disappeared,  and  what  was  left  looked 
particularly  mangy. 

Captain  Carpenter  called  my  attention  to  the  chart 
of  Zeebrugge. 

"We  had  mapped  out  three  courses,  you  see,  to  al- 
low for  the  wind  and  tide.  Eventually  we  came  round 
here,  and  the  tide  carried  us  alongside  the  Mole — 
there.  Sorry  they're  in  such  a  rotten  state,  but  the 
chart-house  was  a  nasty  mess.    Quite  chawed  up." 

Last  of  all  he  showed  me  the  flag — the  glorious  en- 
sign— blackened  with  smoke  and  considerably  holed. 
"We  kept  it  flying  all  the  time,"  he  explained.  "We 
thought  we  might  as  well." 

I  gazed  at  it — as  many  thousands  of  people  will 
gaze  at  it  when  it  finds  a  suitable  home — in  reverence. 
Then,  the  hour  being  nearly  one  o'clock,  I  took  a 
grateful  and  respectful  leave. 

"See  you  in  the  morning,"  said  the  Captain.  "I 
breakfast  about  eight-thirty.  You've  got  to  look  at 
those  aeroplane  photographs,  and  then  we'll  send  you 
off  in  a  car  to  inspect  the  Vindictive.    Good-night." 

At  my  last  glimpse  of  him,  he  was  bundling  his 
priceless  souvenirs  back  into  the  trunk  at  the  foot  of 
his  bed. 


CHAPTER  VI 


On  Board  H.M.S.  Vindictive 


WE  returned  next  morning  to  the  Admiral's 
office,  and  I  was  presently  staring  through  a 
powerful  glass  at  the  aeroplane  photographs  of  the 
sunken  block-ships.  Unless  you  are  accustomed  to 
studying  photographs  taken  from  aeroplanes,  they  are 
at  first  a  little  puzzling,  but  I  soon  made  out  the 
Intrepid  and  Iphigenia  quite  clearly.  The  former  was 
lying  almost  dead  across  the  narrow  channel,  and  had 
heeled  over.  Her  nose  rested  on  the  mud-bank  one 
side,  and  her  stern  on  the  mud-bank  on  the  other  side. 
As  for  the  Iphigenia,  she  lay  bang  across  the  bed  of 
the  Canal.  Both  ships,  in  short,  were  in  such  a  posi- 
tion that  nothing  much  heavier  than  a  cork  could  pos- 
sibly pass  them.    I  have  laid  stress  upon  this,  because 

30 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  31 

so  many  people  have  asked,  "Did  the  expedition  suc- 
ceed? Is  the  Canal  blocked?"  I  can  certify  that  the 
expedition  did  succeed,  and  that  the  Canal  is  utterly 
and  completely  blocked. 

I  now  hopped  into  the  Staff  Car  (with  an  acute 
sense  of  my  unworthiness),  and,  accompanied  by  a 
Commander  and  a  Lieutenant,  who  were  all  that  the 
historic  courtesy  of  the  Navy  could  lead  one  to  ex- 
pect, went  off  to  view  the  remains  of  the  Vindictive. 

I  say  "remains"  advisedly,  for  no  ship  that  had 
withstood  for  one  solid  hour  that  fearful  bombard- 
ment could  hope  to  return  anything  else  but  a  wreck, 
if  she  returned  at  all. 

The  great  shell-torn  funnels  first  caught  the  eye, 
with  the  smoke  even  then  pouring  out  at  a  hundred 
holes.  Next  one  noticed  the  famous  "brows,"  one  or 
two  intact,  others  splintered.  The  false  deck,  built 
to  enable  the  storming  party  to  gain  the  Mole,  was 
still  in  position,  lined  with  protective  sandbags.  I 
saw  the  ruined  chart-house,  and  the  shell-torn  bridge, 
and  the  specially  constructed  flame-throwing  huts. 

Men  swarmed  everywhere,  trying  (as  I  then 
thought)  to  restore  chaos  to  order.  And  one  was 
struck  with  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  it  all.  The 
old  ship  had  done  her  job,  and  might,  one  felt,  be 
allowed  to  rest  in  peace — perhaps  alongside  the  Vic- 
tory. But,  as  we  now  know,  there  was  a  far  greater 
end  in  store  for  her ! 

Peculiarly  interesting  was  the  fighting-top — a  cir- 
cular nest  high  above  the  bridge.  Here  it  was  that 
the  Marines  with  the  Lewis  guns  were  stationed.  One 
pictured  that  tiny  fortress  filled  with  men,  every  man 
a  picked  shot.    Suddenly  comes  the  crash  of  the  enemy 


32  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

shell — a  lucky  shot  that  penetrates  the  armour  of  the 
fighting-top  and  lays  low  every  man  but  one.  The 
story  of  that  man  has  been  already  touched  upon. 
An  hour  later  I  was  by  his  bedside  in  a  hospital  some 
miles  away. 

Yes,  you  had  only  to  look  at  the  Vindictive  to 
realise  what  that  night  attack  on  Zeebrugge  really 
meant.  You  could  picture  the  landing-parties  dash- 
ing across  those  narrow,  oscillating  "brows"  on  to 
the  parapet,  whence  they  must  drop  sixteen  feet  be- 
fore getting  to  grips  with  the  enemy.  And  you  could 
picture  the  return  of  the  grimy  survivors,  each  man 
with  a  pal  in  his  arms. 

You  could  picture  the  decks  strewn  with  the  dead 
and  wounded.  You  could  see  brave  men,  mortally 
hurt,  raising  themselves  in  agony  to  cheer  on  their 
comrades  as  they  rushed  to  the  battle.  You  could  see 
the  gunners,  and  the  firemen,  and  the  gallant  fellows 
who  were  there  to  work  the  rockets  and  the  smoke- 
boxes. 

Finally,  you  could  see  the  pale,  eager  face  of  the 
Commander,  now  on  the  bridge,  now  visiting  the 
wounded,  now  issuing  directions  through  his  mega- 
phone to  the  tiny  attendant  ferry-boats.  And  all  the 
while  the  guns  roar,  and  the  shells  shriek  and  crash, 
and  the  bullets  hail  on  the  dead  and  on  the  living. 

"Bit  knocked  about,  isn't  she?"-  said  the  Com- 
mander. 

"Rather  a  mess,"  I  agreed. 


CHAPTER  VII 


I 


The  Man  Who  Felt  Frightened 

T  was  a    military  atmosphere    into  which  I  was 

plunged  at  Y .     The  Marines,  whose  gallant 

share  in  the  Zeebrugge  exploit  ranks  equal  to  that  of 
the  Navy,  and  will  never  be  forgotten,  were  ready  for 
me.  I  was  taken  first  of  all  to  the  office  of  Major 
Carpenter — a  cousin,  oddly  enough,  of  Captain  Car- 
penter, R.N. 

''Now,"  said  he,  "one  of  the  men  I  want  you  to  see 
is  Captain  Arthur  Chater.  Why  he  isn't  here  I  don't 
know,  but  if  you'll  wait  a  few  minutes " 

"Could  I  see  anybody  else  in  the  meantime?" 

"Well,  there  are  two  interesting  men  in  the  hos- 
pital.   One  is  Lieut. -Commander  Sandford,  who  was 

33 


34  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

in  charge  of  the  submarine  that  blew  up  the 
viaduct " 

"I  must  see  him  at  all  costs !" 

"I  think  I  can  arrange  that.  The  other  is  Sergeant 
Finch,  who's  going  to  get  the  V.C.  I'll  telephone 
over  to  the  hospital  and  let  them  know  you're  coming. 
Then  I'll  have  Chater  here  by  the  time  you  get  back." 

Off  I  went  to  the  hospital.  Sergeant  Finch,  they 
told  me,  was  downstairs,  and  Commander  Sandford 
— he  was  Lieutenant  Sandford  when  he  went  for  the 
Mole — in  a  cubicle  upstairs. 

The  sister  in  charge  of  Finch's  ward  met  me  in 
the  passage. 

"I'm  afraid  you  can't  see  Finch  just  at  present." 

fHe  is  engaged,  perhaps?" 

'Yes,  with  the  barber." 

I  peeped  through  the  glass  panel,  and  there,  sure 
enough,  was  my  hero  with  his  face  half -smothered  in 
lather.  So  I  climbed  the  stairs  and  was  shown  into 
Lieut.-Commander  Sandford's  tiny  apartment. 

"A  friend  to  see  you,"  announced  the  nurse. 

"A  stranger  at  present,"  I  corrected  her,  ''but  not 
for  long,  I  hope." 

Lieut.-Commander  Sandford  seemed  pleased  to  see 
me.  I  gathered  that  he  was  dull.  It  was  a  hard  thing, 
I  reflected,  to  be  dull  after  charging  into  the  Mole. 
However,  somebody,  no  doubt,  will  make  that  up  to 
him  by  and  by. 

He  was  young,  this  hero,  and  of  a  merry  tempera- 
ment. Our  interview  developed  into  quite  a  jovial 
affair. 

"Badly  wounded?"  I  asked. 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  35 

"Oh,  not  so  very.  My  hand,  as  you  see,  and  I  got 
one  through  the  thigh." 

"You'll  soon  be  out  and  about,  the  doctor  tells  me. 
In  the  meantime,  you've  made  a  horrid  mess  of  that 
viaduct." 

"Have  I  ?"  he  chuckled. 

"Don't  you  know?  Well,  I  can  give  you  the  latest 
information.  It's  all  gone  to  glory.  The  Huns  are 
creeping  backwards  and  forwards  on  a  single  plank." 

"That's  good."    He  laughed  again. 

"What  exactly  happened?  I  gather  that  you 
perched  your  submarine  in  the  very  middle  of  the 
woodwork  beneath  the  viaduct  ?" 

"There  was  no  woodwork,  so  far  as  I  know.  You 
see,  the  Huns  had  covered  all  that  over  with  a  sort 
of  steel  curtain,  but  they'd  left  a  hole  in  this  curtain 
for  the  tide  to  run  through.  You  know  about  the  silt 
and  all  that?  Well,  as  soon  as  we  saw  that  hole  we 
made  straight  for  it." 

"Were  you  on  deck?" 

"Oh,  yes.    We  were  all  on  deck." 

"But  how  was  it  you  weren't  swept  off  the  deck  by 
the  steel  curtain?" 

"Why,  don't  you  see,  we  rammed  her  in  as  far  as 
the  conning-tower,  and  then  she  stuck.  All  I  had  to 
do  after  that  was  to  launch  a  boat,  get  the  men  into  it, 
touch  the  button  that  fired  the  fuse,  climb  into  the 
boat  after  the  men,  and  get  clear  away  before  the 
explosion  took  place." 

"Oh!    That  was  all,  was  it?" 

'Yes.  Unluckily  we  fouled  the  propeller  of  the 
boat,  and  so  two  of  us  had  to  row.  There  were  only 
two  oars.    I  don't  suppose,"  he  added,  with  a  specially 


36  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

deep  chuckle,  "any  two  men  ever  pulled  so  hard  be- 
fore." 

'You  knew  what  was  going  to  happen  in  a  min- 
ute?" 

"Rather!    I'd  pressed  the  button!" 

"They  let  you  get  right  up  to  the  Mole,  I  under- 
stand?" 

"Yes.  They  all  stopped  firing.  It  was  rather  rum. 
I  suppose  they  took  it  for  granted  we'd  gone  mad." 

"They  stood  and  watched  you?  I  presume  you 
know  the  actual  viaduct  was  crowded  with  Huns?" 

"No,  I  didn't.    I'm  glad  I  didn't." 

"Why  ?  Would  you  have  felt  some  compunction  in 
blowing  them  up?" 

"Lord,  no!  But  I  was  quite  frightened  enough  as 
it  was!" 

We  both  laughed  at  that. 

'Was  it  a  good  explosion?" 

"I  think  so.  I  should  have  enjoyed  it  more,  only 
just  before  it  happened  I  got  wounded." 

"That  was  a  pity.  I  was  having  a  little  chat  with 
Captain  Carpenter  last  night,  and  he  tells  me  the 
flames  were  a  mile  high." 

"A  mile?"  mused  Mr.  Sandford.  "Golly!  Some 
bang!" 

"One  of  the  best  bangs  on  record,"  I  assured  him. 
"Now  I  must  pop  downstairs  and  see  Sergeant  Finch." 

"Righto !  I  say,  are  you  going  to  write  about  this 
stunt?" 

"If  I'm  spared." 

"Shall  we  have  a  chance  of  seeing  it?" 

"You  shall,"  I  promised  him,  and  left  him  con- 
tentedly chuckling. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


What  the  Marines  Told  the  Huns 


SERGEANT  FINCH,  V.C.,  had  finished  his 
shave,  and  looked  as  clean  and  neat  as  any  hero 
out  of  a  fighting-top  could  expect. 

"They  tell  me,"  I  began,  "that  you've  got  the  V.C. 
Congratulations !" 

"Thank  you,  sir.  But  I  don't  know  what  I  did  to 
get  it,  and  that's  a  fact.  Seems  to  me  if  one  has  the 
V.C,  the  whole  lot  ought  to  have  it." 

"Still,  that  being  impossible,  they've  made  you  the 
victim.    How's  the  hand?" 

"Going  on  a  treat.  I  didn't  want  to  come  here.  I 
wanted  to  go  back  to  barracks  with  my  pal.  I  never 
noticed  I  was  hurt." 

"Pretty  hot  in  that  fighting-top,  wasn't  it  ?" 

"Pretty  fair." 

"I  saw  it  this  morning." 

"Oh,  did  you,  sir?"  He  was  more  interested  now. 
"Then  you  saw  where  the  shell  came  through,  I  sup* 

37 


Q  i  > 

u>0 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair 


pose?  We  all  went  down  in  a  bunch,  and  I  had  a  job 
to  get  out  from  underneath." 

"And  then  you  went  on  working  the  gun?" 

"I  suppose  I  did,  but  I  don't  really  know  what  I 
did.  One  of  my  pals  was  badly  hit,  and  I  tried  to  get 
him  down  on  deck.  I  know  that.  But  it's  a  fact  I 
don't  really  know  what  I  did.  All  I  do  know  is  I'm 
dreading  this  business  that's  coming." 

"Don't  you  worry  about  that,"  I  reassured  him. 
"You'll  find  Somebody  very  charming  to  you." 

"Oh,  it  isn't  that  part,"  replied  the  Sergeant.  "It's 
getting  back  to  the  barracks." 

He  had  visions,  I  could  see,  of  impetuous  and  quite 
strange  ladies  flinging  their  arms  about  his  modest 
neck. 

"I  shall  look  out  for  the  snapshots." 

Finch  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  I  left  him  antici- 
pating the  worst. 

Captain  Chater,  who  had  been  the  Adjutant  of  the 
Fourth  Battalion  Royal  Marines,  was  busy  down  at 
the  stables,  but  he  very  kindly  came  along  to  the  Mess 
and  made  sketches  on  a  piece  of  blotting  paper.  He 
was  about  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  had  the 
same  healthy  delight  in  every  kind  of  bang  as  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander Sandford.  I  understood  him  to 
say  that  the  two  senior  officers,  Colonel  B.  N.  Elliot, 
D.S.O.,  R.M.L.I.,  and  Major  A.  A.  Cordner,  were 
both  killed  on  the  port  side  of  the  bridge  of  the  Vin- 
dictive whilst  that  vessel  was  approaching  the  Mole, 
and  within  only  a  hundred  yards  of  it.  (He  was 
standing  with  them  at  the  time.)  This  catastrophe 
left  Major  B.  G.  Weller,  D.S.C.,  in  command  of  the 
battalion. 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  39 


<<' 


'The  most  awkward  part  of  the  business,"  Captain 
Chater  explained,  "was  that  sixteen-foot  drop.  One 
didn't  know,  you  see,  what  might  be  below.  Not  that 
the  men  minded.  They  were  simply  grand!  Yelled 
like  mad  all  the  time,  and  went  for  the  Huns  as 
though  the  whole  thing  was  a  football  match.  The 
Marines  are  rather  bucked  about  the  show." 

"We  all  know  about  the  Marines — including  the 
enemy!    How  did  you  feel  on  the  way  over?" 

"Oh,  I  didn't  feel  much.  We'd  had  two  previous 
shots,  you  know.    One  was  getting  used  to  it." 

"Did  it  seem  a  long  time  that  you  were  on  the 
Mole?" 

"No.  Awfully  short!  We  were  quite  surprised 
when  the  signal  came  for  us  to  get  back.  Getting  back 
was  the  worst  part.  We  had  scaling  ladders  and 
ropes,  but  the  fire  was  very  heavy,  and  the  men 
wouldn't  go  without  their  pals.  They  insisted  on  tak- 
ing everybody,  living  or  dead.  You  can  imagine  that 
that  took  time." 

"Anyway,"  I  suggested,  "seeing  that  it's  all  over, 
what  about  hopping  into  the  car  with  me  and  coming 
back  to  X ?" 

For  the  first  time  during  our  conversation  he  grew 
serious. 

"To  tell  you  the  truth,"  he  admitted,  in  a  low  tone, 
"I've  been  racking  my  brains  for  an  excuse  to  do  that, 
and  can't  think  of  one!" 


CHAPTER  IX 


I  Hear  They  Want  More 


TWO  very  brief    conversations,  and    this  imper- 
fect and  unpretentious  chronicle  of  Zeebrugge 
comes  to  a  close. 

The  first  is  with  Commander  E.  O.  B.  Seymour 
Osborne,  who  had  charge  of  the  gunnery  operations 
aboard  the  Vindictive.  I  found  him  at  lunch  with 
another  officer  in  a  pleasant  apartment  on  the  sea- 
front  at  X . 

"I  was  told,"  I  began,  "that  I  must  not  leave  with- 
out seeing  you." 

"Oh?    I  don't  quite  know  why. 

"You  were  in  it,  weren't  you?" 

"Yes,  I  was  in  it." 

"And  well  in  it,  I  believe?" 

4o 


» 


s 


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C*i 


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a 

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o 

eh  a 

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0-2 

W 
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O 

as  bo 
5   bo 

O   <a 


^1 
a 


O 
^ 


a 


< 
w 
« 
O 

w 
S 

H 

O 


55 
W 
> 
53 

o 

CO 


s 

'So 

"a 


Souvenirs  of  the  Great  Fight:  (1)  "Vindictive' s"  Operation  Orders 
as  Recovered  from  the  Wrecked  Chart-house;  (2)  Whistle  blown  as  a 
Signal  to  Storm  the  Mole;  (3)  Token  to  be  given  to  the  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  the  "Vindictive"  to  Scuttle  the  Ship  if  she  became  Disabled. 


The  Zeebrugge  Affair  41 

"Pretty  well  in  it.    Have  a  glass  of  port?" 

"No,  thanks." 

"It  will  do  you  a  lot  of  good." 

"If  you  really  think  that .    Now,  please  ten  me 

something." 

"I'll  tell  you  one  thing.  The  men  were  great.  I 
saw  one  chap  come  staggering  on  board  with  a  pal  in 
his  arms.  Whether  the  pal  was  alive  or  dead  I 
couldn't  say,  and  I  doubt  whether  he  could.  But  I 
heard  him  murmuring  to  him,  'I  wouldn't  leave  yer, 
Bill!    Did  you  think  I  would?'" 

That's  all.  The  other  remark,  which  has  since 
proved  highly  significant,  came  from  an  officer  who 
very  courteously  gave  me  a  lift  to  the  station  in  his 
car.  No  less  a  personage  than  the  Admiral  came  out 
to  see  him  off. 

"The  Admiral  tells  me,"  he  observed,  as  we  drove 
away,  "that  the  standard  was  very  high  in  this  affair." 

I  made  no  comment.    None  was  needed.     , 

"By  the  way,"  he  went  on,  "have  you  noticed  that 
a  lot  of  the  chaps  seem  a  bit  used  up?  Rather  nervy 
and  all  that  ?" 

"Not  surprising,  is  it?" 

"Well,  it  looks  to  me  as  though  they  want  more 

of  it." 

They  got  it. 

*  *  * 

A  thrill  ran  through  England  when  it  heard  that 
the  Vindictive  had  been  sunk  in  the  very  jaws  of 
Ostend  Harbour.  The  imagination  dwelt  on  the  old 
battleship — scarred,  battered,  broken,  covered  with 
glory.     They  wanted  to  make  a  show  of  her,  and  a 


42  The  Zeebrugge  Affair 

fine  show  she  would  have  made ;  but  her  work  was  not 
yet  done.  One  final  honour  was  in  store  for  her. 
Just  as  so  many  gallant  men  had  died  on  her  decks 
for  the  Cause  of  Freedom,  so  she,  too,  could  perish  in 
the  same  cause. 


BRITISH   ADMIRALTY  OFFICIAL   NARRATIVE. 


ZEEBRUGGE  AND  OSTEND 

First  Attack 

24th  April,   19 1 8. 

THOSE  who  recall  High  Wood  upon  the  Somme 
— and  they  must  be  many,  as  it  was  after  the 
battles  of  191(3 — may  easily  figure  to  themselves  the 
decks  of  H.M.S.  Vindictive  as  she  lies  to-day,  a  stark, 
black  profile  against  the  sea  haze  of  the  harbour  amid 
the  stripped,  trim  shapes  of  the  fighting  ships  which 
throng  these  waters.  That  wilderness  of  debris,  that 
litter  of  the  used  and  broken  tools  of  war,  that  lavish 
ruin  and  that  prodigal  evidence  of  death  and  battle, 
are  as  obvious  and  plentiful  here  as  there.  The  ruined 
tank  nosing  at  the  stout  tree  which  stopped  it  has  its 
parallel  in  the  flame-thrower  hut  at  the  port  wing  of 
Vindictive' s  bridge,  its  iron  sides  freckled  with  rents 
from  machine-gun  bullets  and  shell-splinters ;  the  tall 
white  cross  which  commemorates  the  martyrdom  of 
the  Londoners  is  sister  to  the  dingy,  pierced  White 
Ensign  which  floated  over  the  fight  of  the  Zeebrugge 
Mole. 

Looking  aft  from  the  chaos  of  her  wrecked  bridge, 
one  sees,  snug  against  their  wharf,  the  heroic  bour- 
geois shapes  of  the  two  Liverpool  ferry-boats  (their 
captains'  quarters  are  still  labelled  "Ladies  Only") 
Iris  and  Daffodil,  which  shared  with  Vindictive  the 
honours  and  ardours  of  the  fight.    The  epic  of  their 

43 


44     Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative 

achievement  shapes  itself  in  the  light  of  that  view 
across  the  scarred  and  littered  decks,  in  that  environ- 
ment of  grey  water  and  great  still  ships. 

Their  objectives  were  the  canal  of  Zeebrugge  and 
the  entrance  to  the  harbour  of  Ostend — theirs,  and 
those  of  five  other  veteran  and  obsolete  cruisers  and  a 
mosquito  fleet  of  destroyers,  motor-launches  and 
coastal  motor-boats.  Three  of  the  cruisers,  Intrepid, 
Iphigenia  and  Thetis,  each  duly  packed  with  concrete 
and  with  mines  attached  to  her  bottom  for  the  purpose 
of  sinking  her,  Merrimac-  fash  ion,  in  the  neck  of  the 
canal,  were  aimed  at  Zeebrugge;  two  others,  similarly 
prepared,  were  directed  at  Ostend.  The  function  of 
Vindictive,  with  her  ferry-boats,  was  to  attack  the 
great  half -moon  Mole  which  guards  the  Zeebrugge 
Canal,  land  bluejackets  and  marines  upon  it,  destroy 
what  stores,  guns,  and  Germans  she  could  find,  and 
generally  create  a  diversion  while  the  block-ships  ran 
in  and  sank  themselves  in  their  appointed  place.  Vice- 
Admiral  Keyes,  in  the  destroyer  Warwick,  com- 
manded the  operation. 

There  had  been  two  previous  attempts  at  the  attack, 
capable  of  being  pushed  home  if  weather  and  other 
conditions  had  served.  The  night  of  the  22nd  offered 
nearly  all  the  required  conditions,  and  at  some  fifteen 
miles  off  Zeebrugge  the  ships  took  up  their  formation 
for  the  attack.  Vindictive,  which  had  been  towing 
Iris  and  Daffodil,  cast  them  off  to  follow  under  their 
own  steam;  Intrepid,  Iphigenia,  and  Thetis  slowed 
down  to  give  the  first  three  time  to  get  alongside  the 
Mole;  Sirius  and  Brilliant  shifted  their  course  for 
Ostend;  and  the  great  swarm  of  destroyers  and  motor 
craft  sowed  themselves  abroad  upon  their  multifari- 


Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative     45 

ous  particular  duties.  The  night  was  overcast  and 
there  was  a  drift  of  haze;  down  the  coast  a  great 
searchlight  swung  its  beams  to  and  fro;  there  was  a 
small  wind  and  a  short  sea. 

From  Vindictive' s  bridge,  as  she  headed  in  towards 
the  Mole  with  her  faithful  ferry-boats  at  her  heels, 
there  was  scarcely  a  glimmer  of  light  to  be  seen  shore- 
wards.  Ahead  of  her,  as  she  drove  through  the  water, 
rolled  the  smoke-screen,  her  cloak  of  invisibility, 
wrapped  about  her  by  the  small  craft.  This  was  a 
device  of  Wing-Commander  Brock,  R.N.A.S.,  "with- 
out which,"  acknowledges  the  Admiral  in  Command, 
"the  operation  could  not  have  been  conducted."  The 
north-east  wind  moved  the  volume  of  it  shoreward 
ahead  of  the  ships;  beyond  it,  the  distant  town  and  its 
defenders  were  unsuspicious;  and  it  was  not  till  Vin- 
dictive, with  her  bluejackets  and  marines  standing 
ready  for  the  landing,  was  close  upon  the  Mole  that 
the  wind  lulled  and  came  away  again  from  the  south- 
west, sweeping  back  the  smoke-screen  and  laying  her 
bare  to  the  eyes  that  looked  seaward. 

There  was  a  moment  immediately  afterwards  when 
it  seemed  to  those  in  the  ships  as  if  the  dim  coast 
and  the  hidden  harbour  exploded  into  light.  A  star 
shell  soared  aloft,  then  a  score  of  star  shells;  the  wav- 
ering beams  of  the  searchlights  swung  round  and  set- 
tled to  a  glare;  the  wildfire  of  gun  flashes  leaped 
against  the  sky;  strings  of  luminous  green  beads  shot 
aloft,  hung  and  sank;  and  the  darkness  of  the  night 
was  supplanted  by  the  nightmare  daylight  of  battle 
fires.  Guns  and  machine-guns  along  the  Mole  and  bat- 
teries ashore  wdke  to  life,  and  it  was  in  a  gale  of  shell- 
ing that  Vindictive  laid  her  nose  against  the  thirty- 


46     Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative 

foot  high  concrete  side  of  the  Mole,  let  go  an  anchor, 
and  signed  to  Daffodil  to  shove  her  stern  in.  Iris  went 
ahead  and  endeavoured  to  get  alongside  likewise. 

The  fire,  from  the  account  of  everybody  concerned, 
was  intense.  While  ships  plunged  and  rolled  beside 
the  Mole  in  an  unexpected  send  of  sea,  Vindictive 
with  her  greater  draught  jarring  against  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Mole  with  every  plunge,  they  were  swept 
diagonally  by  machine-gun  fire  from  both  ends  of  the 
Mole  and  by  heavy  batteries  ashore.  Commander 
A.  F.  B.  Carpenter  (now  Captain)  conned  Vindic- 
tive from  her  open  bridge  till  her  stern  was  laid  in, 
when  he  took  up  his  position  in  the  flame-thrower  hut 
on  the  port  side.  It  is  to  this  hut  that  reference  has 
already  been  made ;  it  is  marvellous  that  any  occupant 
of  it  should  have  survived  a  minute,  so  riddled  and 
shattered  is  it.  Officers  of  Iris,  which  was  in  trouble 
ahead  of  Vindictive,  describe  Captain  Carpenter  as 
"handling  her  like  a  picket-boat." 

Vindictive  was  fitted  along  the  port  side  with  a  high 
false  deck,  whence  ran  the  eighteen  brows,  or  gang- 
ways, by  which  the  storming  and  demolition  parties 
were  to  land.  The  men  were  gathered  in  readiness  on 
the  main  and  lower  decks,  while  Colonel  Elliot,  who 
was  to  lead  the  Marines,  waited  on  the  false  deck  just 
abaft  the  bridge,  and  Captain  H.  C.  Halahan,  who 
commanded  the  bluejackets,  was  amidships.  The 
gangways  were  lowered,  and  scraped  and  rebounded 
upon  the  high  parapet  of  the  Mole  as  Vindictive 
rolled;  and  the  word  for  the  assault  had  not  yet  been 
given  when  both  leaders  were  killed,  Colonel  Elliot 
by  a  shell  and  Captain  Halahan  by  tfie  machine-gun 
fire  which  swept  the  decks.    The  same  shell  that  killed 


Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative     47 

Colonel  Elliot  also  did  fearful  execution  in  the  for- 
ward Stokes  Mortar  Battery. 

"The  men  were  magnificent."  Every  officer  bears 
the  same  testimony.  The  mere  landing  on  the  Mole 
was  a  perilous  business ;  it  involved  a  passage  across 
the  crashing,  splintering  gangways,  a  drop  over  the 
parapet  into  the  field  of  fire  of  the  German  machine- 
guns  which  swept  its  length,  and  a  further  drop  of 
some  sixteen  feet  to  the  surface  of  the  Mole  itself. 
Many  were  killed  and  more  were  wounded  as  they 
crowded  up  to  the  gangways;  but  nothing  hindered 
the  orderly  and  speedy  landing  by  every  gangway. 

Lieutenant  H.  T.  C.  Walker  had  his  arm  carried 
away  by  a  shell  on  the  upper  deck  and  lay  in  the  dark- 
ness while  the  storming  parties  trod  him  under.  He 
was  recognised  and  dragged  aside  by  the  Commander. 
He  raised  his  remaining  arm  in  greeting.  "Good  luck 
to  you,"  he  called,  as  the  rest  of  the  stormers  hastened 
by;  "good  luck." 

The  lower  deck  was  a  shambles  as  the  Commander 
made  the  rounds  of  his  ship ;  yet  those  wounded  and 
dying  raised  themselves  to  cheer  as  he  made  his  tour. 
The  crew  of  the  howitzer  which  was  mounted  forward 
had  all  been  killed ;  a  second  crew  was  destroyed  like- 
wise ;  and  even  then  a  third  crew  was  taking  over  the 
gun.  In  the  stern  cabin  a  firework  expert,  who  had 
never  been  to  sea  before — one  of  Captain  Brock's  em- 
ployees— was  steadily  firing  great  illuminating  rock- 
ets out  of  a  scuttle  to  show  up  the  lighthouse  on  the 
end  of  the  Mole  to  the  block  ships  and  their  escort. 

The  Daffodil,  after  aiding  to  berth  Vindictive, 
should  have  proceeded  to  land  her  own  men,  but  now 
Commander  Carpenter  ordered  her  to  remain  as  she 


48     Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative 

was,  with  her  bows  against  Vindictive' s  quarter, 
pressing  the  latter  ship  into  the  Mole.  Normally,  Daf- 
fodil's boilers  develop  eighty  pounds'  pressure  of 
steam  per  inch ;  but  now,  for  this  particular  task,  Ar- 
tificer Engineer  Sutton,  in  charge  of  them,  maintained 
a  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  for  the  whole  period  that 
she  was  holding  Vindictive  to  the  Mole.  Her  casual- 
ties,  owing  to  her  position  during  the  fight,  were  small 
— one  man  killed  and  eight  wounded,  among  them  her 
Commander,  Lieutenant  H.  Campbell,  who  was  struck 
in  the  right  eye  by  a  shell  splinter. 

Iris  had  troubles  of  her  own.  Her  first  attempts  to 
make  fast  to  the  Mole  ahead  of  Vindictive  failed,  as 
her  grapnels  were  not  large  enough  to  span  the  para- 
pet. Two  officers,  Lieut.-Commander  Bradford  and 
Lieutenant  Hawkins,  climbed  ashore  and  sat  astride 
the  parapet  trying  to  make  the  grapnels  fast  till  each 
was  killed  and  fell  down  between  the  ship  and  the  wall. 
Commander  Valentine  Gibbs  had  both  legs  shot  away 
and  died  next  morning.  Lieutenant  Spencer,  R.N.R., 
though  wounded,  conned  the  ship  and  Lieutenant  Hen- 
derson, R.N.,  came  up  from  aft  and  took  command. 

Iris  was  obliged  at  last  to  change  her  position  and 
fall  in  astern  of  Vindictive,  and  suffered  very  heavily 
from  the  fire.  A  single  big  shell  plunged  through  the 
upper  deck  and  burst  below  at  a  point  where  fifty-six 
marines  were  waiting  the  order  to  go  to  the  gang- 
ways. Forty-nine  were  killed  and  the  remaining 
seven  wounded.  Another  shell  in  the  ward-room, 
which  was  serving  as  sick  bay,  killed  four  officers 
and  twenty-six  men.  Her  total  casualties  were  eight 
officers  and  sixty-nine  men  killed  and  tiiree  officers  and 
a  hundred  and  two  men  wounded. 


Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative     49 

The  storming  and  demolition  parties  upon  the  Mole 
met  with  no  resistance  from  the  Germans,  other  than 
the  intense  and  unremitting  fire.  The  geography  of 
the  great  Mole,  with  its  railway  line  and  its  many 
buildings,  hangars,  and  store-sheds,  was  already  well 
known,  and  the  demolition  parties  moved  to  their  ap- 
pointed work  in  perfect  order.  One  after  another 
the  buildings  burst  into  flame  or  split  and  crumpled 
as  the  dynamite  went  off. 

A  bombing  party,  working  up  towards  the  Mole  ex- 
tension in  search  of  the  enemy,  destroyed  several  ma- 
chine-gun emplacements,  but  not  a  single  prisoner  re- 
warded them.  It  appears  that  upon  the  approach  of 
the  ships,  and  with  the  opening  of  the  fire,  the  enemy 
simply  retired  and  contented  themselves  with  bringing 
machine-guns  to  the  shore  end  of  the  Mole.  And 
while  they  worked  and  destroyed,  the  covering  party 
below  the  parapet  could  see  in  the  harbour,  by  the 
light  of  the  German  star  shells,  the  shapes  of  the 
block  ships  stealing  in  and  out  of  their  own  smoke 
and  making  for  the  mouth  of  the  canal. 

Thetis  came  first,  steaming  into  a  tornado  of  shell 
from  the  great  batteries  ashore.  All  her  crew,  save  a 
remnant  who  remained  to  steam  her  in  and  sink  her, 
had  already  been  taken  off  her  by  the  ubiquitous  motor 
launches,  but  the  remnant  spared  hands  enough  to 
keep  her  four  guns  going.  It  was  hers  to  show  the 
road  to  Intrepid  and  Iphigenia,  who  followed. 

She  cleared  the  string  of  armed  barges  which  de- 
fends the  channel  from  the  tip  of  the  Mole,  but  had 
the  ill-fortune  to  foul  one  of  her  propellers  upon  the 
net  defence  which  flanks  it  on  the  shore  side.  The 
propeller  gathered  in  the  net  and  rendered  her  prac- 


50     Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative 

tically  unmanageable;  the  shore  batteries  found  her 
and  pounded  her  unremittingly;  she  bumped  into  a 
bank,  edged  off,  and  found  herself  in  the  channel 
again,  still  some  hundreds  of  yards  from  the  mouth 
of  the  canal,  in  a  practically  sinking  condition.  As 
she  lay  she  signalled  invaluable  directions  to  the  oth- 
ers, and  here  Commander  R.  S.  Sneyd,  D.S.O.,  accord- 
ingly blew  the  charges  and  sank  her.  A  motor  launch, 
under  Lieutenant  H.  Littleton,  R.N.V.R.,  raced  along- 
side and  took  off  her  crew.  Her  losses  were  five  killed 
and  five  wounded. 

Intrepid,  smoking  like  a  volcano  and  with  all  her 
guns  blazing,  followed;  her  motor  launch  had  failed 
to  get  alongside  outside  the  harbour,  and  she  had  men 
enough  for  anything.  Straight  into  the  canal  she 
steered,  her  smoke  blowing  back  from  her  into 
Iphigenia's  eyes,  so  that  the  latter,  blinded  and  going 
a  little  wild,  rammed  a  dredger  with  a  barge  moored 
beside  it,  which  lay  at  the  western  arm  of  the  canal. 
She  got  clear  though,  and  entered  the  canal  pushing 
the  barge  before  her.  It  was  then  that  a  shell  hit  the 
steam  connections  of  her  whistle,  and  the  escape  of 
steam  which  followed  drove  off  some  of  the  smoke  and 
let  her  see  what  she  was  doing. 

Lieutenant  Stuart  Bonham-Carter,  commanding  the 
Intrepid,  placed  the  nose  of  his  ship  neatly  on  the 
mud  of  the  western  bank,  ordered  his  crew  away,  and 
blew  up  his  ship  by  the  switches  in  the  chart-room. 
Four  dull  bumps  was  all  that  could  be  heard ;  and  im- 
mediately afterwards  there  arrived  on  deck  the  en- 
gineer, who  had  been  in  the  engine-room  during  the 
explosion  and  reported  that  all  was  as  it  should  be. 

Lieutenant    E.    W.    Billyard-Leake,    commanding 


Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative     51 

Iphigenia,  beached  her  according  to  arrangement  on 
the  eastern  side,  blew  her  up,  saw  her  drop  nicely 
across  the  canal,  and  left  her  with  her  engines  still 
going  to  hold  her  in  position  till  she  should  have 
bedded  well  down  on  the  bottom.  According  to  latest 
reports  from  air  observation,  the  two  old  ships  with 
their  holds  full  of  concrete  are  lying  across  the  canal 
in  a  V  position ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  work  they 
set  out  to  do  has  been  accomplished  and  that  the  canal 
is  effectively  blocked. 

A  motor  launch,  under  Lieutenant  P.  T.  Deane, 
R.N.V.R.,  had  followed  them  in  to  bring  away  the 
crews,  and  waited  further  up  the  canal  towards  the 
mouth  against  the  western  bank.  Lieutenant  Bon- 
ham-Carter,  having  sent  away  his  boats,  was  reduced 
to  a  Carley  float,  an  apparatus  like  an  exaggerated 
lifebuoy  with  a  floor  of  grating.  Upon  contact  with 
the  water  it  ignited  a  calcium  flare,  and  he  was  adrift 
in  the  uncanny  illumination  with  a  German  machine- 
gun  a  few  hundred  yards  away  giving  him  its  un- 
divided attention. 

What  saved  him  was  possibly  the  fact  that  the  de- 
funct Intrepid  was  still  emitting  huge  clouds  of  smoke, 
which  it  had  been  worth  nobody's  while  to  turn  off. 
He  managed  to  catch  a  rope  as  the  motor  launch 
started,  and  was  towed  for  a  while  till  he  was  observed 
and  taken  on  board.  Another  officer  jumped  ashore 
and  ran  along  the  bank  to  the  launch.  A  bullet  from 
the  machine-gun  stung  him  as  he  ran,  and  when  he 
arrived,  charging  down  the  bank  out  of  the  dark,  he 
was  received  by  a  member  of  the  launch's  crew  who 
attacked  him  with  a  hammer. 

The  whole  harbour  was  alive  with  small  craft.    As 


52     Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative 

the  motor  launch  cleared  the  canal,  and  came  forth  to 
the  incessant  geysers  thrown  up  by  the  shells,  rescuers 
and  rescued  had  a  view  of  yet  another  phase  of  the 
attack.  The  shore  end  of  the  Mole  consists  of  a  jetty, 
and  here  an  old  submarine,  commanded  by  Lieutenant 
R.  D.  Sandford,  R.N.,  loaded  with  explosives,  was  run 
into  the  piles  and  touched  off,  her  crew  getting  away 
in  a  boat  to  where  the  usual  launch  awaited  them. 

Officers  describe  the  explosion  as  the  greatest  they 
ever  witnessed — a  huge  roaring  spout  of  flame  that 
tore  the  jetty  in  half  and  left  a  gap  of  over  ioo  feet. 
The  claim  of  another  launch  to  have  sunk  a  torpedo- 
boat  alongside  the  jetty  is  supported  by  many  ob- 
servers, including  officers  of  the  Vindictive,  who  had 
seen  her  mast  and  funnel  across  the  Mole  and  noticed 
them  disappear. 

Where  every  moment  had  its  deed  and  every  deed 
its  hero,  a  recital  of  acts  of  valour  becomes  a  mere 
catalogue.  "The  men  were  magnificent,"  say  the  of- 
ficers; the  men's  opinion  of  their  leaders  expresses  it- 
self in  the  manner  in  which  they  followed  them,  in 
their  cheers,  in  their  demeanour  to-day  while  they 
tidy  up  their  battered  ships,  setting  aside  the  inevit- 
able souvenirs,  from  the  bullet-torn  engines  to  great 
chunks  of  Zeebrugge  Mole  dragged  down  and  still 
hanging  in  the  fenders  of  the  Vindictive.  The  motor 
launch  from  the  canal  cleared  the  end  of  the  Mole  and 
there  beheld,  trim  and  ready,  the  shape  of  the  War- 
wick, with  the  great  silk  flag  presented  to  the  Admiral 
by  the  officers  of  his  old  ship,  the  Centurion.  They 
stood  up  on  the  crowded  decks  of  the  little  craft  and 
cheered  it  again  and  again. 

While  the  Warwick  took  them  on  board,  they  saw 


Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative     53 

Vindictive,  towed  loose  from  the  Mole  by  Daffodil, 
turn  and  make  for  home — a  great  black  shape,  with 
funnels  gapped  and  leaning  out  of  the  true,  flying  a 
vest  streamer  of  flame  as  her  stokers  worked  her  up — 
her,  the  almost  wreck — to  a  final  display  of  seventeen 
knots.  Her  forward  funnel  was  a  sieve;  her  decks 
were  a  dazzle  of  sparks;  but  she  brought  back  intact 
the  horseshoe  nailed  to  it,  which  Sir  Roger  Keyes  had 
presented  to  her  commander. 

Meantime  the  destroyers  North  Star,  Phoebe,  and 
Warwick,  which  guarded  the  Vindictive  from  action 
by  enemy  destroyers  while  she  lay  beside  the  Mole, 
had  their  share  in  the  battle.  North  Star  (Lieut.- 
Commander  K.  C.  Helyar,  R.N.),  losing  her  way  in 
the  smoke,  emerged  to  the  light  of  the  star-shells,  and 
was  sunk.  The  German  communique,  which  states 
that  only  a  few  members  of  the  crew  could  be  saved 
by  them,  is  in  this  detail  of  an  unusual  accuracy,  for 
the  Phoebe  (Lieut. -Commander  H.  E.  Gore-Langton, 
R.N.),  came  up  under  a  heavy  fire  in  time  to  rescue 
nearly  all.  Throughout  the  operations  monitors  and 
the  siege  guns  in  Flanders,  manned  by  the  Royal 
Marine  Artillery,  heavily  bombarded  the  enemy's  bat- 
teries. 

The  wind  that  blew  back  the  smoke-screen  at  Zee- 
brugge served  us  even  worse  off  Ostend,  where  that 
and  nothing  else  prevented  the  success  of  an  operation 
ably  directed  by  Commodore  Hubert  Lynes,  C.M.G. 
The  coastal  motor  boats  had  lit  the  approaches  and  the 
ends  of  the  piers  with  calcium  flares  and  made  a 
smoke-cloud  which  effectually  hid  the  fact  from  the 
enemy.  Sirius  and  Brilliant  were  already  past  the 
Stroom  Bank  buoy  when  the  wind  changed,  revealing 


54     Zeebrugge  and  Ostend:  Official  Narrative 

the  arrangements  to  the  enemy,  who  extinguished  the 
flares  with  gunfire. 

The  Sirius  was  already  in  a  sinking  condition  when 
at  length  the  two  ships,  having  failed  to  find  the  en- 
trance, grounded,  and  were  forced  therefore  to  sink 
themselves  at  a  point  about  four  hundred  yards  east 
of  the  piers,  and  their  crews  were  taken  off  by  motor 
launches  under  Lieutenant  K.  R.  Hoare,  R.N.V.R., 
and  Lieutenant  R.  Bourke,  R.N.V.R. 

The  motor  launches  here  were  under  the  command 
of  Commander  Hamilton  Benn,  R.N.V.R.,  D.S.O., 
M.P.,  while  those  at  Zeebrugge  were  commanded  by 
Captain  R.  Collins,  R.N.  (the  Vice-Admiral's  Flag- 
Captain) . 

All  the  coastal  motor  boats  were  commanded  by 
Lieutenant  A.  P.  Wellman,  D.S.O.,  R.N.  The  tor- 
pedo-boat destroyer  flotilla  was  commanded  by  Cap- 
tain Wilfred  Tomkinson,*R.N. 

The  difficulty  of  the  operation  is  to  be  gauged  from 
the  fact  that  from  Zeebrugge  to  Ostend  the  enemy  bat- 
teries number  not  less  than  120  heavy  guns,  which  can 
concentrate  on  retiring  ships,  during  daylight,  up  to 
a  distance  of  about  sixteen  miles.  This  imposes  as  a 
condition  of  success  that  the  operation  must  be  car- 
ried out  at  night,  and  not  late  in  the  night.  It  must 
take  place  at  high  water,  with  the  wind  from  the 
right  quarter,  and  with  a  calm  sea  for  the  small  craft. 
The  operation  cannot  be  rehearsed  beforehand,  since 
the  essence  of  it  is  secrecy,  and  though  one  might 
have  to  wait  a  long  time  to  realise  all  the  essential 
conditions  of  wind  and  weather,  secrecy  wears  badly 
when  large  numbers  of  men  are  brought  together  in 
readiness  for  the  attack. 


BRITISH    ADMIRALTY   OFFICIAL   NARRATIVE. 


OSTEND 
Second  Attack 

Dunkirk,  nth  May,  1918. 

THE  Sirius  lies  in  the  surf  some  two  thousand 
yards  east  of  the  entrance  to  Ostend  Harbour, 
which  she  failed  so  gallantly  to  block;  and  when,  in 
the  early  hours  of  yesterday  morning,  the  Vindictive 
groped  her  way  through  the  smoke-screen  and  headed 
for  the  entrance,  it  was  as  though  the  old  fighting-ship 
awoke  and  looked  on.  A  coastal  motor-boat  had  vis- 
ited her  and  hung  a  flare  in  her  slack  and  rusty  rig- 
ging; and  that  eye  of  unsteady  fire,  paling  in  the  blaze 
of  the  star-shells  or  reddening  through  the  drift  of 
the  smoke,  watched  the  whole  great  enterprise,  from 
the  moment  when  it  hung  in  doubt  to  its  ultimate 
triumphant  success. 

The  planning  and  execution  of  that  success  had 
been  entrusted  by  the  Vice- Admiral,  Sir  Roger  Keyes, 
to  Commodore  Hubert  Lynes,  C.M.G.,  who  directed 
the  "previous. attempt  to  block  the  harbour  with  Sir  ins 
and  Brilliant.  Upon  that  occasion,  a  combination  of 
unforeseen,  and  unforeseeable,  conditions  had  fought 
against  him;  upon  this,  the  main  problem  was  to  se- 
cure the  effect  of  a  surprise  attack  upon  an  enemy 
who  was  clearly,  from  his  ascertained  dispositions, 
expecting  him.  Sirius  and  Brilliant  had  been  baffled 
by  the  displacement  of  the  Stroom  Bank  buoy,  which 

55 


56    Ostend — Second  Attack:  Official  Narrative 

marks  the  channel  to  the  harbour  entrance,  but  since 
then  aerial  reconnaissance  had  established  that  the 
Germans  had  removed  the  buoy  altogether  and  that 
there  were  now  no  guiding  marks  of  any  kind.  They 
had  also  cut  gaps  in  the  piers  as  a  precaution  against 
a  landing;  and,  further,  when  towards  midnight  on 
Thursday  the  ships  moved  from  their  anchorage,  it 
was  known  that  some  nine  German  destroyers  were 
out  and  at  large  upon  the  coast.  The  solution  of  the 
problem  is  best  indicated  by  the  chronicle  of  the  event. 

It  was  a  night  that  promised  well  for  the  enterprise 
— nearly  windless,  and  what  little  breeze  stirred  came 
from  a  point  or  so  west  of  north;  a  sky  of  lead-blue, 
faintly  star-dotted,  and  no  moon;  a  still  sea  for  the 
small  craft,  the  motor  launches  and  the  coastal  motor- 
boats,  whose  work  is  done  close  in  shore.  From  the 
destroyer  which  served  the  Commodore  for  flagship, 
the  remainder  of  the  force  was  visible  only  as  swift 
silhouettes  of  blackness,  destroyers  bulking  like  cruis- 
ers in  the  darkness,  motor-launches  like  destroyers, 
and  coastal  motor-boats  showing  themselves  as  racing 
hillocks  of  foam.  From  Dunkirk,  a  sudden  and  brief 
flurry  of  gunfire  announced  that  German  aeroplanes 
were  about — they  were  actually  on  their  way  to  visit 
Calais;  and  over  the  invisible  coast  of  Flanders  the 
summer-lightning  of  the  restless  artillery  rose  and  fell 
monotonously. 

"There's  Vindictive!"  The  muffled  seamen  and 
Marines  standing  by  the  torpedo-tubes  and  the  guns 
turned  at  that  name  to  gaze  at  the  great  black  ship, 
seen  mistily  through  the  streaming  smoke  from  the 
destroyer's  funnels,  plodding  silently  to  her  goal  and 
her  end.    Photographs  have  made  familiar  that  high- 


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One  of  the  Funnels  of  t;:e  "Vindictive'' 
After  the  Engagement. 


Official  Sea-Plane  Photograph  of  the  Lock-Gates 

And  the  Approach  to   the  Lock  at  Zeebrugge,  showing   the  Sunken 
Block-Ships. 


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Ostend — Second  Attack:  Official  Narrative   57 

sided  profile  and  the  tall  funnels,  with  their  Zeebrugge 
scars,  always  with  a  background  of  the  pier  at  Dover 
against  which  she  lay  to  be  fitted  for  her  last  task; 
now  there  was  added  to  her  the  environment  of  the 
night  and  the  sea  and  the  greatness  and  tragedy  of  her 
mission. 

She  receded  into  the  night  astern  as  the  destroyer 
raced  on  to  lay  the  light  buoy  that  was  to  be  her  guide, 
and  those  on  board  saw  her  no  more.  She  passed 
thence  into  the  hands  of  the  small  craft,  whose  mis- 
sion it  was  to  guide  her,  light  her,  and  hide  her  in  the 
clouds  of  the  smoke-screen. 

There  was  no  preliminary  bombardment  of  the  har- 
bour and  the  batteries  as  before  the  previous  attempt; 
that  was  to  be  the  first  element  in  the  surprise.  A 
time-table  had  been  laid  down  for  every  stage  of  the 
operation;  and  the  staff  work  beforehand  had  even 
included  precise  orders  for  the  laying  of  the  smoke 
barrage,  with  plans  calculated  for  every  direction  of 
wind.  The  monitors,  anchored  in  their  firing-posi- 
tions far  to  seaward,  awaited  their  signal;  the  great 
siege  batteries  of  the  Royal  Marine  Artillery  in  Flan- 
ders— among  the  largest  guns  that  have  ever  been 
placed  on  land-mountings — stood  by  likewise  to  neu- 
tralise the  big  German  artillery  along  the  coast;  and 
the  airmen  who  were  to  collaborate  with  an  aerial 
bombardment  of  the  town  waited  somewhere  in  the 
darkness  overhead.  The  destroyers  patrolled  to  sea- 
ward of  the  small  craft. 

The  Vindictive,  always  at  that  solemn  gait  of  hers, 
found  the  flagship's  light-buoy  and  bore  up  for  where 
a  coastal  motor-boat,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Wil- 
liam R.  Slayter,  R.N.,  was  waiting  by  a  calcium  flare 


58    Ostend — Second  Attack:  Official  Narrative 

upon  the  old  position  of  the  Stroom  Bank  buoy.  Four 
minutes  before  she  arrived  there,  and  fifteen  minutes 
only  before  she  was  due  at  the  harbour  mouth,  the 
signal  for  the  guns  to  open  was  given.  Two  motor- 
boats,  under  Lieutenant  Darrel  Reid,  R.N.R.,  and 
Lieutenant  Albert  L.  Poland,  R.N.,  dashed  in  towards 
the  ends  of  the  high  wooden  piers  and  torpedoed  them. 
There  was  a  machine-gun  on  the  end  of  the  western 
pier,  and  that  vanished  in  the  roar  and  the  leap  of 
flame  and  debris  which  called  to  the  guns.  Over  the 
town  a  flame  suddenly  appeared  high  in  air,  and  sank 
slowly  earthwards — the  signal  that  the  aeroplanes  had 
seen  and  understood ;  and  almost  coincident  with  their 
first  bombs  came  the  first  shells  whooping  up  from 
the  monitors  at  sea.  The  surprise  part  of  the  attack 
was  sprung. 

The  surprise,  despite  the  Germans'  watchfulness, 
seems  to  have  been  complete.  Up  till  the  moment 
when  the  torpedoes  of  the  motor-boats  exploded,  there 
had  not  been  a  shot  from  the  land — only  occasional 
routine  star-shells.  The  motor-launches  were  doing 
their  work  magnificently.  These  pocket-warships, 
manned  by  officers  and  men  of  the  Royal  Naval  Volun- 
teer Re*serve,  are  specialists  at  smoke-production ;  they 
built  to  either  hand  of  the  Vindictive' s  course  the  like- 
ness of  a  dense  sea-mist  driving  landward  with  the 
wind.  The  star-shells  paled  and  were  lost  as  they  sank 
in  it;  the  beams  of  the  searchlights  seemed  to  break 
off  short  upon  its  front.  It  blinded  the  observers  of 
the  great  batteries  when  suddenly,  upon  the  warning 
of  the  explosions,  the  guns  roared  into  action. 

There  was  a  while  of  tremendous  uproar.  The 
coast  about  Ostend  is  ponderously  equipped  with  bat- 


Ostend — Second  Attack:  Official  Narrative    59 

teries,  each  with  its  name  known  and  identified :  Tir- 
pitz,  Hindenburg,  Deutschland,  Cecilia,  and  the  rest; 
they  register  from  six  inches  up  to  monsters  of  fif- 
teen-inch naval  pieces  in  land-turrets,  and  the  Royal 
Marine  Artillery  fights  a  war-long  duel  with  them. 
These  now  opened  fire  into  the  smoke  and  over  it  at 
the  monitors;  the  Marines  and  the  monitors  replied; 
and,  meanwhile,  the  aeroplanes  were  bombing  method- 
ically and  the  anti-aircraft  guns  were  searching  the 
skies  for  them.  Star-shells  spouted  up  and  floated 
down,  lighting  the  smoke  banks  with  spreading  green 
fires;  and  those  strings  of  luminous  green  balls,  which 
airmen  call  "flaming  onions,"  soared  up  to  lose  them- 
selves in  the  clouds.  Through  all  this  stridency  and 
blaze  of  conflict,  the  old  Vindictive,  still  unhurrying, 
was  walking  the  lighted  waters  towards  the  entrance. 

It  was  then  that  those  on  the  destroyers  became 
aware  that  what  had  seemed  to  be  merely  smoke  was 
wet  and  cold,  that  the  rigging  was  beginning  to  drip, 
that  there  were  no  longer  any  stars — a  sea-fog  had 
come  on. 

The  destroyers  had  to  turn  on  their  lights  and  use 
their  syrens  to  keep  in  touch  with  each  other ;  the  air 
attack  was  suspended,  and  Vindictive,  with  some  dis- 
tance yet  to  go,  found  herself  in  gross  darkness. 

There  were  motor-boats  to  either  side  of  her,  escort- 
ing her  to  the  entrance,  and  these  were  supplied  with 
what  are  called  Dover  flares — enormous  lights  capable 
of  illuminating  square  miles  of  sea  at  once.  A  "Very" 
pistol  was  fired  as  a  signal  to  light  these ;  but  the  fog 
and  the  smoke  together  were  too  dense  for  even  the 
flares.  Vindictive  then  put  her  helm  over  and  started 
to  cruise  to  find  the  entrance.    Twice  in  her  wander- 


60    Ostend — Second  Attack:  Official  Narrative 

ings  she  must  have  passed  across  it,  and  at  her  third 
turn,  upon  reaching  the  position  at  which  she  had  first 
lost  her  way,  there  came  a  rift  in  the  mist,  and  she  saw 
the  entrance  clear,  the  piers  to  either  side  and  the 
opening  dead  ahead.  The  inevitable  motor-boat  dashed 
up  (No.  22,  commanded  by  Acting  Lieutenant  Guy  L. 
Cockburn,  R.N.),  raced  on  into  the  opening  under  a 
heavy  and  momentarily  growing  fire,  and  planted  a 
flare  on  the  water  between  the  piers.  Vindictive 
steamed  over  it  and  on.    She  was  in. 

The  guns  found  her  at  once.  She  was  hit  every  few 
seconds  after  she  entered,  her  scarred  hull  broken 
afresh  in  a  score  of  places  and  her  decks  and  upper 
works  swept.  The  machine-gun  on  the  end  of  the 
western  pier  had  been  put  out  of  action  by  the  motor- 
boat's  torpedo,  but  from  other  machine-guns  at  the 
inshore  ends  of  the  pier,  from  a  position  on  the  front, 
and  from  machine-guns  apparently  firing  over  the 
eastern  pier,  there  converged  upon  her  a  hail  of  lead. 
The  after-control  was  demolished  by  a  shell  which 
killed  all  its  occupants,  including  Sub-Lieutenant 
Angus  H.  MacLachlan,  who  was  in  command  of  it. 
Upper  and  lower  bridges  and  chart-room  were  swept 
by  bullets,  and  Commander  Godsal,  R.N.,  ordered  his 
officers  to  go  with  him  to  the  conning-tower. 

They  observed  through  the  observation  slit  in  the 
steel  wall  of  the  conning-tower  that  the  eastern  pier 
was  breached  some  two  hundred  yards  from  its/ sea- 
ward end,  as  though  at  some  time  a  ship  had  been  in 
collision  with  it.  They  saw  the  front  of  the  town 
silhouetted  again  and  again  in  the  light  of  the  guns 
that  blazed  at  them;  the  night  was  a  patchwork  of  fire 
and  darkness.    Immediately  after  passing  the  breach 


Ostend — Second  Attack:  Official  Narrative    61 

in  the  pier,  Commander  Godsal  left  the  conning-tower 
and  went  out  on  deck,  the  better  to  watch  the  ship's 
movements;  he  chose  his  position,  and  called  in 
through  the  slit  of  the  conning-tower  his  order  to  star- 
board the  helm.  The  Vindictive  responded;  she  laid 
her  battered  nose  to  the  eastern  pier  and  prepared  to 
swing  her  320  feet  of  length  across  the  channel. 

It  was  at  that  moment  that  a  shell  from  the  shore 
batteries  struck  the  conning-tower.  Lieutenant  Sir 
John  Alleyne  and  Lieutenant  V.  A.  C.  Crutchley,  R.N., 
were  still  within ;  Commander  Godsal  was  close  to  the 
tower  outside.  Lieutenant  Alleyne  was  stunned  by  the 
shock;  Lieutenant  Crutchley  shouted  through  the  slit 
to  the  Commander,  and,  receiving  no  answer,  rang  the 
port  engine  full  speed  astern  to  help  in  swinging  the 
ship.  By  this  time  she  was  lying  at  an  angle  of  about 
forty  degrees  to  the  pier,  and  seemed  to  be  hard  and 
fast,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  bring  her  further 
round. 

After  working  the  engines  for  some  minutes  to  no 
effect,  Lieutenant  Crutchley  gave  the  order  to  clear  the 
engine-room  and  abandon  ship,  according  to  the  pro- 
gramme previously  laid  down.  Engineer  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Wm.  A.  Bury,  who  was  the  last  to  leave 
the  engine-room,  blew  the  main  charges  by  the  switch 
installed  aft;  Lieutenant  Crutchley  blew  the  auxiliary 
charges  in  the  forward  six-inch  magazine  from  the 
conning-tower.  Those  on  board  felt  the  old  ship  shrug 
as  the  explosive  tore  the  bottom  plates  and  the  bulk- 
heads from  her ;  she  sank  about  six  feet  and  lay  upon 
the  bottom  of  the  channel.    Her  work  was  done. 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  Commander  Godsal  was 
killed  by  the  shell  which  struck  the  conning-tower. 


62    Ostend — Second  Attack:  Official  Narrative 

Lieutenant  Crutchley,  searching  the  ship  before  he  left 
her,  failed  to  find  his  body,  or  that  of  Sub-Lieutenant 
MacLachlan,  in  that  wilderness  of  splintered  wood 
and  shattered  steel.  In  the  previous  attempt  to  block 
the  port,  Commander  Godsal  had  commanded  Bril- 
liant, and,  together  with  all  the  officers  of  that  ship 
and  of  Sirius,  had  volunteered  at  once  for  a  further 
operation. 

Engineer  Lieutenant-Commander  Bury,  who  was 
severely  wounded,  had  been  in  Vindictive  in  her  attack 
on  the  Zeebrugge  Mole ;  he  had  urged  upon  the  Vice- 
Admiral  his  claim  to  remain  with  her,  with  four  En- 
gine-room Artificers,  in  view  of  his  and  their  special 
knowledge  of  their  engines.  The  names  of  these  four 
are  as  follows:  H.  Cavanagh,  H.M.S.  Vindictive, 
wounded;  N.  Carroll,  Royal  Naval  Barracks,  Chat- 
ham, wounded;  A.  Thomas,  H.M.S.  Lion,  missing;  H. 
Harris,  H.M.S.  Royal  Sovereign. 

The  Coxswain  was  First-Class  Petty  Officer  J.  J. 
Reed,  Royal  Naval  Barracks,  Chatham,  who  had  been 
with  Commander  Godsal  in  Brilliant,  and  whose  ur- 
gent request  to  be  allowed  to  remain  with  him  had 
been  granted.  The  remainder  of  the  crew  were  se- 
lected from  a  large  number  of  volunteers  from  the 
ships  of  the  Dover  patrol. 

Most  of  the  casualties  were  incurred  while  the  ship 
was  being  abandoned.  The  men  behaved  with  just 
that  cheery  discipline  and  courage  which  distinguished 
them  in  the  Zeebrugge  raid. 

Petty  Officer  Reed  found  Lieutenant  Alleyne  in  the 
conning  tower,  still  unconscious,  and  carried  him  aft 
under  a  storm  of  fire  from  the  machine-guns.  Lieu- 
tenant Alleyne  was  badly  hit  before  he  could  be  got 


Ostend — Second  Attack:  Official  Narrative    63 

over  the  side,  and  fell  into  the  water.  Here  he 
managed  to  catch  hold  of  a  boat-fall,  and  a  motor- 
launch,  under  Lieutenant  Bourke,  R.N.V.R.,  suc- 
ceeded in  rescuing  him  and  two  other  wounded  men. 
The  remainder  of  the  crew  were  taken  off  by  Motor- 
Launch  254,  under  Lieutenant  Geoffrey  H.  Drum- 
mond,  R.N.V.R.,  under  a  fierce  fire.  When  finally  he 
reached  the  Warwick  the  launch  was  practically  in  a 
sinking  condition ;  her  bows  were  shot  to  pieces ;  Lieu- 
tenant Drummond  was  himself  severely  wounded, 
his  second  in  command,  Lieutenant  Gordon  Ross, 
R.N.V.R.,  and  one  hand  were  killed;  a  number  of 
others  were  wounded.  The  launch  was  found  to  be 
too  damaged  to  tow,  and  day  was  breaking;  she  and 
the  Warwick  were  in  easy  range  of  the  forts;  so  as 
soon  as  her  crew  and  the  Vindictive* s  survivors  were 
transferred,  a  demolition  charge  was  placed  in  her 
engine-room  and  she  was  sunk. 

Always  according  to  programme,  the  recall  rockets 
for  the  small  craft  were  fired  from  the  flagship  at  2.30 
a.m.  The  great  red  rockets  whizzed  up  to  lose  them- 
selves in  the  fog;  they  cannot  have  been  visible  half 
a  mile  away ;  but  the  work  was  done,  and  one  by  one 
the  launches  and  motor-boats  commenced  to  appear 
from  the  fog,  stopped  their  engines  alongside  the  de- 
stroyers and  exchanged  news  with  them.  There  were 
wounded  men  to  be  transferred  and  dead  men  to  be  re- 
ported— their  names  called  briefly  across  the  water 
from  the  little  swaying  deck  to  the  crowded  rail  above. 
But  no  one  had  seen  a  single  enemy  craft;  the  nine 
German  destroyers  who  were  out  and  free  to  fight 
had  chosen  the  discreeter  part. 

Vice-Admiral  Sir  Roger  Keyes  was  present  at  the 
operation  in  the  destroyer   Warwick.     Commander 


64   Ostend — Second  Attack:  Official  Narrative 

Hamilton  Benn,  R.N.V.R.,  D.S.O.,  M.P.,  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  motor-launches,  and  Lieutenant  Francis 
C.  Harrison,  D.S.O.,  R.N.,  of  the  coastal  motor-boats. 
The  central  smoke-screen  was  entrusted  to  Sub-Lieu- 
tenant Humphrey  V.  Low,  R.N.,  and  Sub-Lieutenant 
Leslie  R.  Blake,  R.N.R.  Casualties,  as  at  present  re- 
ported, stand  at  two  officers  killed  and  six  men ;  two 
officers  and  ten  men,  all  of  Vindictive,  missing,  be- 
lieved killed ;  and  four  officers  and  eight  men  wounded. 
It  is  not  claimed  by  the  officers  who  carried  out  the 
operation  that  Ostend  Harbour  is  completely  blocked; 
but  its  purpose — to  embarrass  the  enemy  and  make  the 
harbour  impracticable  to  any  but  small  craft  and 
dredging  operations  difficult — has  been  fully  accom- 
plished. 


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MY  HOME  IN  THE  FIELD  OF  HONOUR  By  Frances  Wilson  Hue 

The  simple,  intimate,  classic  narrative  which  has  taken  rank  as  one 
the  few  distinguished  books  produced  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 

Illustrated.     Each  12mo.    Net,  $1. 

GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY      Publishers      NewYc 

PUBLISHERS     IN     AMERICA      FOR     HODDER     BC     STOUGHTI 


faulorct  : 
PAMPHLET  BINDER 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
Stockton,  Calif. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA      000  294  891    7 


